Rise Of The Elementals
by Cursor
Summary: 25 years after the end of the war,all seems peaceful. However, devestation and chaos return in a new, menacing form. The Avatar must face something more terrible than Ozai could have ever been, something he cannot face alone, something... unnatural.
1. Chapter 1

**The Dark Avatar**

**Introduction:**

This story is the first part of The Dark Avatar Trilogy, named Rise Of The Elementals. It takes place twenty five years into the future of the Avatar show, and takes our favorite team, now separated through a reunion, where they would once more have to face themselves, each other and most of all, their unknown enemies.

**Trilogy Summary:**

Twenty five years into the future, horrific events of seemingly random order begin to take place, and the Avatar is sent to put a stop to it, however, things are not as simple as they seem, and as the Avatar delves deeper into them he discovers terrible parts of the Avatars' history, lost to the race of man. As new foes emerge, seeking to undo the balance he had worked so hard to recreate, would Aang be able to reunite with his friends and rise above the challenge offered to him by fate?

Part Summary

When a group of meteors crashes on the world, strange sightings begin of terrifying creatures with immense capabilities and the keeper of balance is summoned. However, soon he finds that things are not as they seem, and behind these seemingly unprecedented events there is a far older and more terrible story linked directly to the past lives of him himself as a cosmic-scale history reveals itself.

* * *

**Part One: Rise Of The Elementals**

Chapter One

The black velvet, embroidered with tiny white dot-like patterns that was the night sky stretched on to the horizon, with the exception of the great shining crescent, right in the center of view. Moon and star light alike lit up the dark and lush knoll, bestowing the grass with an enchanting gleam, and illuminating the lone couple sitting in each other's arms on it.

Their silhouettes seemed conjoined, as they embraced each other warmly; savoring the moments they were together. The beauty of that night almost seemed to be a gift for those two lovers who knew to appreciate it. The knoll rarely had visitors, despite the magnificent view seen from it, and so it was more unusual than not to see human beings there.

That is, until the couple moved nearby. Ever since they discovered this natural treasure near their new dwelling, they had visited the lonely hill every evening to watch the sun set, and the night sky. They would often talk, but at times they would prefer to simply bask in the beauty of nature and appreciate it in all of its forms.

Suki and Haru first met in the celebrations following the end of the One Hundred Years War, it seemed as though their love had blossomed ever since they first laid eyes on each other, and this bond only grew stronger as they continued to see one another. All who knew them said marriage was inevitable, and indeed they were right. The humble, small ceremony eventually took place, and the two embarked on the journey of building a life together.

The time of peace after the end of the war greatly eased this process, and since both lovers were gifted and talented, they had few troubles settling in, even having the time to watch the sun set every evening, a personal tradition of theirs.

And as they enjoyed the cool night air and painting-like sky, they felt the good times would last forever, as couples in love are wont to feel.

They were wrong.

A sudden streak of light was seen far above in the sky, an undefined shape, enveloped in flames, falling right from the sky, and heading, to the couple's dread, in their direction. A small trail of smoke followed the crashing meteor, as it sped towards the ground, and with little-to-no time to act, the Earth Nation's most envied couple could only watch in terror.

They were soon relieved however, as instead, the cosmic projectile crashed down in the stretch of woods some distance before their sanctuary of love, uprooting several trees in it's descent, and lifting up a large amount of dust, clouding the area of the impact.

Suki and her mate tensed, expecting another meteor to follow the one already touched down, but none came. Relief spread through the grateful and they shared a short kiss, but as they drew apart, relief exchanged with excitement.

"Let's go check it out!" The once Kyoshi warrior suggested, with a grin of anticipation and gleaming eyes. Her Earthbender husband cracked a smile at her excitement and nodded.

Both elevated themselves from the ground and took off in a playful jog to the meteor, (last one there's a Shirshu cub!) but as the clearing made by the meteor was visible to them through the mass of trees, they slowed down, and took in the view of the newly-made crater with awe.

As they emerged into the clearing, the couple held their hands and exchanged looks of thrilled enjoyment. They were almost at the rim of the crater, just about to lean over and look down, when the blur of a dark shape shot up from it, and landed before them. The ground slightly quivered at the impact, sending the unprepared humans stumbling backwards to regain their balance.

Before they could manage it though, a large, dark hand grabbed Suki by the throat, with neither a warning nor a comment, and lifted up the warrior so she was level with two piercing, steel-colored, snake-like eyes.

The warrior struggled valiantly, grabbing at the hand and trying to force it away, all the while kicking with her feet, but to no avail. Haru acted without even thinking, watching his love in harm's way, he immediately launched a spire of earth at the hostile creature, but the latter merely smashed it with his free arm off-handedly, as though it was not worthy of much attention. But as Haru began to mount another assault, the creature sent a casual kick at him, though it was casual to the creature, the force of the kick alone was enough to send the Earthbender crashing against the nearest trunk of a tree.

Suki, in the meanwhile was beginning to choke, and the lack of air and the obstruction of her blood flow was starting to become apparent, though she continued to struggle, her resistance soon became weaker, and her gagging became more pronounced, now joined with a repulsive gurgling sound as her saliva built up in her throat.

Just as the thought passed in Suki's fear filled mind that it was over for her, the creature's hand released her, dropping her unceremoniously on the ground, spluttering and gasping for air, her hands on her throat.

Haru was only just beginning to recover from his crash when the creature at last paid him attention again. Not one to make short battles long, it strode over, with gigantic steps, and with a swift, fluid motion snapped the Earthbender's neck, silencing him for eternity.

"So pathetic and hideous…" It commented, studying the dead human's form, "They are not meant to last." With that inscrutably said; it turned over and returned to the air gulping warrior, who was oblivious to her mate's fate.

It lifted Suki up once more, now from the hem of her clothes, glowering at her, and asked. "Where is your Avatar?"

She was halfway through compiling the answer to that question, when she suddenly asked, "Our Avatar?"

"You will bring him to me, or many more will end as _he_ did." He turned Suki around, so she could see the dead body of the man she loved. And before she could react, before she could scream out, he had let her go, and he was gone.

And scream out she did, a scream of anguish and loss as such this forest has never heard before. Haru was dead, her other half, was dead.

* * *

The polished stone floors on the outer, central plaza, cleaned regularly by the young monks were now slightly blemished, as a young monk dropped a tray of food unto them. 

He stared at the sky, his gaze following the flaming projectile heading towards the nearby waters. It was rather uncommon to see such large meteors around, and it was certainly the first time this monk has ever seen one. This one would not burn before it struck the ocean, that much was clear to the young monk. For now, he forsake his duty to clean the floor, and rushed to call his peers to view this sight.

* * *

The South Pole's ocean was serene, blue waves rippling around the shining white icebergs calmly. A particular Waterbending student, who drew his inspiration from this sight of the waters of his homeland, sat still on his boat, watching the waves. He appreciated the stillness of the ocean. 

It was no surprise, if so, that he was shocked as those were suddenly disturbed by a large crashing object, knocking his boat backwards with the immense waves of water. The Waterbending student, having been too focused on the water to quite notice what had crashed into his precious ocean, rushed to shore, in order to inquire if anyone had seen what it was that disturbed his peace.

* * *

The Great Walls of Ba Sing Se, still standing in their entire glory, a marvelous sight for any man, of any nation, for these walls held not only the record as the highest walls in existence, but also a long history, never before failing the citizens of Ba Sing Se, (Though breached twice, the enemy has never progressed far enough to invade the city). 

An Earth Kingdom guard stood jadedly on top of the Great Walls of Ba Sing Se, staring dully out into the surrounding area, ever since the war has ended, his job has become even less than obsolete, since no one was expecting any attack on the outer walls. But it brought in the money, and so he couldn't complain, it secured him a house in the middle quarter, and he was grateful for that.

Today however, a pleasant surprise graced his shift, for something interesting _did_ occur to him, the uncommon sight of a crashing meteor, somewhere on the other side of the Serpent's Path, The trail of smoke following the meteor was a big one and so was the fireball surrounding it, and ergo, so was the meteor. He quickly called his sergeant, for he did not want to witness this rare sight alone, and it might put him in the latter's good books, and perhaps earn him an early end to his shift…

* * *

The FNS Deliverance was one of the Fire Nation's oldest vessels; it has been thoroughly reconstructed after an unexplained explosion in the engine room tore out half of the hull. But in the sakes of preserving this ancient relic, it has been put in the repair bay for months on end. And now, for the first time in years, it was once again sailing the waters around the Fire Nation's isle. 

How ironic it was that on the first time in years that the Fire Navy has set this ship on patrol, after a massive investment in it's reconstruction, that it would once again sink, this time, due to a massive meteor, emerging quickly out of the sky, and crashing straight into the front of the ship.

A collective sigh came out from the reconstruction crew of the ship, watching it sail from the safety of their dockyard, and they stared at each other helplessly, knowing that many weeks of work will wait for them once the salvage crew drags in the remains of their proud work.

* * *

ooo

The sun had only just peeked from the mountaintops of the next day, bathing the sky in an orange-red color, when the nuns of the Eastern Air Temple began to go about their daily chores, the Mother Superior walked about, monitoring her sisters as they went through their daily Rota, she was rather young to be a Mother Superior, but since the Air Nomads have only just recently been re-introduced to the world, most Airbending Masters were young, and not elderly as the monks before them.

Earlier that morning, a group of nuns went on their assigned task of foraging and should have returned late, in the early hours of noon, however, when she saw the leader of the group, a rather responsible sister she took a liking too, she was not pleased to see the look of distress upon her face.

"We found a woman; she came out of nowhere and collapsed!" The young nun let out in one breath, "And she asked to call the Avatar, there she is…" She gestured over to two nuns carrying a green garbed, red-haired woman, covered in a variety of cuts and bruises, as well as signs of extreme exhaustion. She was trembling, and obviously struggling for every moment she was awake, whatever it was she wished to see the Avatar about, it had to be important.

"Go and summon him, I will tend to her, hurry now, he is on the veranda overlooking the eastern mountains." The Mother Superior ordered, and the nun hasted to do as she instructed, sprinting past her superior across the large stone court.

"Avatar Aang, Avatar Aang!" She called, the sound of her feet rapping against the stone disturbing the eerie silence of the terrace, the tall monk in bright orange turned to her, hands and forehead adorned with blue, arrow-shaped tattoos. His warm grey eyes surveyed her fondly.

"Yes sister, what is it?" The Airbender asked, twirling his staff in one hand as he inquired, careful inspection would reveal that he was not physically touching his staff, but rather bending the air to make it spin.

"We found a woman!" The female monk declared hastily, "And she asked to see you; she said her name was… Suki I think…" The young nun scratched her bald forehead, but her confidence restored to her once her Avatar showed signs of recognition, he ceased twirling his staff and focused his gaze upon her intently. "She's in the eastern plaza…" He strode past her quickly, so that she had to jog to keep up with him, "She collapsed near us, and she's injured, Mother Superior is tending to her now though, so I'm sure she'll be okay."

"There you are, Avatar Aang!" The Mother superior called out as the two approached, only barely holding the filthy, wounded warrior back from charging at the Avatar, Aang sprinted over to his old friend, crouching next to her as she struggled.

"Suki, what happened?" He asked urgently, "Are you all right?"

"Aang! Thank goodness Aang, you've got to stop that thing, it's going to kill people, it killed people already! It… it killed Haru… you have to stop it!" The female warrior cried urgently, managing to release one of her hands from the Mother Superior's hands and used it to grab the male monk's hand, childlike, begging for help.

Aang's expression changed rapidly to surprise, and then to a stony melancholy as Haru's fate was revealed to him. He suppressed a strong pinch of tragedy and shock, whoever it was that killed Haru, he needed to stop them, and for that, he needed Suki to be calm.

"Suki, listen to me, take a deep breath and tell me _exactly_ what happened." The former last Airbender commanded firmly, grey eyes etched with piercing determination. The distressed woman did as he instructed, and took a deep rattling breath.

"We were sitting near our home, and a meteor landed in the forest. Haru and I went to see what it looked like, but then this creature jumped out at us…"

"Creature?" The Avatar inquired, hoping she did not hint at the outrageous idea that it was…

"An alien, it came in the meteor, this giant black thing, with big snake eyes!" Suki described frantically, pushing it beside the point, why was he wasting time? That thing could be out there, killing more people, just like he killed him… her love.

Aang did not know what he preferred, for Suki to be telling the truth, so he won't have to deal with her growing insane, or for her to truly be mentally unstable, so he won't have to work out what steps to take against aggressive extraterrestrials.

"He killed Haru, and he told me to get you, he said he'll keep killing people until you show up!" Suki said, her voice losing whatever balance it had, and now flying between a high-pitched shrilling cry and a series of low pitched sobs.

The male monk wasted no time after he heard that, he threw a significant look to the Mother Superior and opened his glider staff, taking a short sprint and throwing it into the air, before jumping on it, clinging to the support beams meant for his hands as he bended the air currents around him. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, bending the air to greatly accelerate his flight. There was no time to spare.

The female nomads of temple hurried to take the worn out Suki to a resting place, where she could recover from her traumatic injury, all hoping that whatever it was Aang was facing, would not take anymore lives.

* * *

After a short and nerve-wracking flight, Aang reached the area of the Earth Kingdom where Suki and Haru chose to reside, the crash site of the meteor was apparent from his height, as the damage done to the forest was great. However, Suki had said that the creature, whatever it was, threatened to kill people until the Avatar was brought to it. 

It didn't take him much time to locate the latest scene of disturbance in the creature's path, as a large pillar of smoke was rising from what Aang knew to be a small village to the west, turning his glider around, he headed in that direction, turning his glider upwards, so that the sails would pick up the wind he bended and propel him forwards.

Time was of the essence, that was the single thought in the Airbender's mind as he rode the wind towards his destination, but a dark sensation in the pit of his stomach gave him an unearthly feeling that it was already too late. He landed on the outskirts of the village, and sprinted forwards, decreasing the air resistance with his bending as he went, so that he sped in inhuman speeds towards his goal. He quickly halted however, as he was forced to swerve and avoid a large object standing in his path. He skidded to a halt some distance past it, raising a cloud of dust from the ground, and turned his head just in time to see a large fist approaching him.

He raised a defensive in time, striking with his staff upwards roundly, only slightly deterring the aggressive gesture, which even in despite of his preemptive action managed to scrape his ear, leaving it pounding in pain. Whoever it was, silhouetted by the twilight, they were fast, as before Aang even had a chance to recover from the first strike, a second followed, which he only just barely dodged, having to duck below the high hook punch, and just as he raised his offensive, a swerving crescent kick descended, shattering his staff and sending splinters into the air.

Aang grimaced as a minute fragment of wood struck the corner of his eyes, but the distraction was costly, awe aside, as his adversary sent a devastating roundhouse kick to, should he have been upright, where Aang's chest would be, however, since he was crouching, it was his upper jaw that took the blow, he could almost feel it fragmenting as he soared across the patch of dirt on which the combat took place. He crashed heavily unto the ground, dragging as he went, not even having the focus of mind to cushion the earth to ease his landing. The unthinkable came to his mind, he had to run, he wasn't ready for this. Suki was right, that thing could not be of Earthly origins, the strength of its blows, and the speed in which it struck were impracticable for a human being. He had to regroup.

Though his eyes were closed, Aang knew the creature was advancing on him, evident by his heavy weight, and the tremors in the ground as it trudged towards the Airbender. It was fortunate he had studied with Toph Bei Fong, for otherwise he would not have trained himself to feel such vibrations strongly. He rolled backwards, gracefully getting to his feet and making several tactical steps backwards. He began to resent the twilight, for revealing only the basic, massive shape of the creature, if only he knew what he was fighting against…

The creature stopped; fists on its hips, glowering at its retreating opponent, it did not speak, but its intent was obvious. Aang could almost feel the words in his mind, _"Come back when you're ready."_

Aang took off in the direction of the village; the wind he left in his wake blew out the flames easily and the Avatar hoped that the survivors would have the smarts to get as far away as they could from there. But for now, if the spirit of the planet was to live on to defeat this threat, he had to withdraw. As always when he was in doubt, he knew to whom he should turn, but in order to do so, he had to return to the Eastern temple, and without his glider, he would have to do so on foot, prolonging his journey. He felt a twinge of guilt thinking of his fateful staff, hand crafted by the former Airbenders over a century ago, it was his most prized possession, and his only one, being a monk. He resolved not to think of it, he would ask for a replacement from the Mother Superior for the meanwhile, and see what he could do about his own later.

As he ran he felt grave disappointment in himself, he was running away, leaving people to die at the hands of the terrifying alien presence, but what was he supposed to do? How does one deal with a celestial being, or better yet, how does one attack such a being without understanding what it is first? Perhaps it could be negotiated with? He felt shameful, as though he was merely making up excuses. He has not even attempted bending against the creature, let alone entering the Avatar State. His instincts, his intuitions told him it wouldn't work, that he needed to run and figure out what that thing was before attempting such desperate tactics.

As he debated this matter with himself, the creature was still standing rooted on the spot, in the exact same position, and after being sure the Avatar was not to return, it turned around and began to walk away loosely, and lightly, emanating an aura of pleased cruelty.

ooo


	2. Chapter 2

_Summer has an end._

_The fury of the sun retreats, withheld._

_But as autumn approaches, and the leaves touch down,_

_It is time for the winds, and time to place my crown._

_And as balance is to imbalance,_

_And as imbalance is to balance,_

_I will be to the light, as the light is to me,_

_His mortal, everlasting, unrelenting, enemy_.

* * *

Chapter Two

The tall, orange-garbed monk was sitting serenely on the shores of a lake; he sat in an oriental, cross legged position, as is customary for meditation. He had neither the time nor the inclination to return to the Eastern air temple in his corporeal form, and he estimated that he was indeed far enough from the creature to be safe from its daunting wrath. The lake's bluish-greenish surface shimmered in the light of the now high sun, and on occasion, a bull-frog would moo nearby, and then croak calmly. Beams of sunlight penetrated through the branches of the trees surrounding the lake, making small patches of light on the grassy surroundings of the water source.

A small stream of water rose from the lake, almost sentient; it wrapped itself around the Airbender's skull, glowing faintly as it was absorbed into it. The avatar breathed a sigh of relief as the pain was exchanged with a pleasant, warm sensation. What left of the waters he was using returned obediently to the lake, sending a small ripple across the placid surface.

The Avatar then stilled, the tattoos adorning his arms and forehead glowing white, as he left his corporeal form and streaked off towards his destination, the Eastern Air Temple. While he could easily pass between the Spirit World and Real World, this time Aang had no time to find his bearings in the Spirit World, where he could not bend, and search for his counselor, Avatar Roku, through the Spirit Gate in the Eastern Air Temple, he would be able to reach the place he sought, the place where Avatar Roku often waited for him.

As many scenes and landscapes blurred past him, Aang surveyed the direction where the village he had failed to save was. The smoke had almost cleared by now, and the village was beyond any additional help, so Aang could only hope there were survivors to the vicious attack by the creature.

Sooner than he realized, he was at his destination, the Spirit Gate of the Eastern Air Temple, where he once sat with Guru Pathik and learned to open the seven chakras. He had no time to waste, so he strode through the Spirit Portal, and appeared in the strange and wonderful view of the Spirit World.

Avatar Roku was there, waiting for him. There was nothing about his demeanor even hinting at anything resembling good news. So Aang's face fell slightly as the stony gaze of his predecessor rested upon him. He expected a reprimand, reproach, anything other than what the former Avatar said.

"You have done well to retreat." The once proud Firebender said, "You are not ready to face this threat."

"What do you mean Avatar Roku?" Aang asked naively, though he understood now exactly why his intuitions, who were tuned in with his past lives, instructed him to flee.

"I cannot speak much of this threat, it is not my place. Know that you alone cannot succeed in destroying this celestial being, and know that you must undertake a journey, such as he himself had taken, in order to even hope to defeat him. Until such time, you must not initiate a confrontation with him." His voice was heavy, laden with seriousness, intention and purpose. Aang would not dare to disobey such an instruction when it was clear that his mentor was completely serious.

"But why, what is this creature? Where does he come from?" The current Avatar inquired pleadingly, raising his hands questioningly, and staring at his past life with imploring eyes.

"I cannot say, you must do as it was done before, you must begin your quest immediately! Your journey will be a long and hard one, once more the balance of the world depends upon you. And as balance comes from the four elements, so must you gather the four most powerful benders, one of each element, and defend the balance of the world." The red-garbed elder explained shrewdly, "It so happens that fate has directed this in your favor, and you know of whom I speak."

Aang, who was silent and still throughout this shrouded guidance, nodded understandingly, and Roku proceeded, "Warn them however, that there are no guarantees any of you, yes Aang, even you, no guarantee that you will emerge alive from this event. Only if, and once this is finished, will you be able to proceed in the plan to stop this being. Take caution Aang, gather your allies and let not the balance of the world be ruined!" Roku called dramatically, raising his arms high in the air theatrically. After several moments in which Aang was just staring at him, he snapped, "Why are you still here?! Go!"

Aang startled at the sudden reprimand and instantaneously disappeared from the Spirit Plane, returning to the Physical one. He directed his thoughts towards his body, and his spirit was hurtled towards it, passing through the stone construction of the temple, and past the familiar scenery of the Earth Kingdom.

As he was traveling, his vision suddenly distorted, his surroundings appeared white, and suddenly, they were no more. He was standing on unfamiliar flats; a bizarre shroud hid everything around him from view. In the distance, from the shroud, Aang could tell the form of a shape, walking confidently towards him, he recognized this shape, it was the creature. Undoubtly, this vision was to foreshadow the upcoming confrontation. But just as Aang reflected on that, four more shapes appeared to the sides of the creature, walking slightly behind him as bodyguards, their eyes were glowing, each pair in a different color, the leftmost one in green, then red, then blue, then white. And as suddenly as it appeared, the vision disappeared, leaving Aang sitting on the edge of the lake, completely corporeal once more.

The meaning of the vision did not elude him, there was a certain order in which he needed to acquire his companions, the same order as those in his vision, green symbolized Earth, red – Fire, blue must be Water, and white was Air. So be it, he would first have to intrude upon the most powerful of the element Earth.

* * *

The sun had already reached it's highest point in the sky as the Avatar finally neared his destination. 

The cool autumn wind felt pleasant in the Avatar's face, as he walked calmly on the nearest road, flanked by trees dressed in yellow and orange, an occasional leaf dropping from them. The monk was somewhat fatigued, and felt it would be nice to relax in a local tavern or inn. But the task in front of him was too grave for him to stop. He was nearing his target as it was, Ba Sing Se only being the length of the Serpent's Pass or a ferry ride away, other than a small walk past an agricultural settlement, and to the port. The Airbender hummed a tune to himself, passing through the small village, when suddenly the cry of a fearful farmer came to his ears. "Airbender!"

The farmer whose call Aang heard, seeming slightly too old, too dirty, but otherwise fit to work properly in farming ran up to him clumsily, his old wrinkled face, complete with a small scar on the left side of his chin looked at the Airbender in plea, "There was something moving around my farm, a creature made of Earth! I swear it on my hands!" He explained nervously, constantly looking over his shoulder.

"Probably an Earthbender having some fun at your expense." Aang speculated wisely, it was not unheard of, and Aang didn't have the time to stop and listen to the man, so he excused himself politely and carried on his course. The farmer stared at his back perplexedly, before running up to catch up with the tall monk.

"Wait, kind bender, won't you…" But the rest of his sentence was drowned in a deafening crash, as the ground beneath them began shaking violently, bringing down the houses around them. And just as suddenly as it appeared it disappeared, Aang's instincts did not fail him this time, he managed to strike and break the boulder hurled at him into two perfectly symmetrical parts, which sailed past him harmlessly. He looked down at his fist contemplatively for a moment, and then looked up at the Earthbender opposing him. A tall figure, dressed in armor made completely of metal, unprocessed metal, as though he had bended it to his person himself, though Aang knew it was impossible. Only he and Toph could bend metal, since they both trained themselves to sense the earthen impurities in it.

The armor was crudely shaped over the muscular physique, though it was very fitting despite that. Aang never managed to get a good look at anything other than the breastplate of the armor, as suddenly a wave of Earth rose up at him and the farmer. Aang made a casual pushing motion with one of his hands in the farmer's direction, and he was instantly pushed sideways by a powerful air burst, sending him to safety.

The monk then took a firm stance in the Earth and readied his hands, then sending those forwards in a thrusting motion, repelling the wave back at the sender. Who in turn, smashed it to bits, but before Aang could take a good look at him, he disappeared into the Earth, and Aang could feel him vanishing into the distance. Aang thought the whole extra-terrestrial situation was weighing heavily upon him, because for a moment he could swear that the bender wasn't human, but he resolved to think that the sun glare and the lack of a good view of the bender were to blame.

Whoever it was, they were gifted Earthbenders, he found it troubling that they ran away, but he had no time for bandits, he'll have to take care of it later, they were probably just afraid to face the Avatar anyway.

"There's your monster, just an Earthbender bandit, I'll be back to take care of him later, steer clear of him." The Avatar instructed the farmer, now lying in a pile of hay and being gawked at by a cow-pig.

Then the blue tattooed monk resumed his journey, following the road for a short distance past the village, and then proceeding to the edge of the nearby woods, walking along the rim, until he reached a narrow dirt path leading inside. He smiled reminiscently as he entered. The most suitable place in the world for those two… he thought.

The woods were darker, but not significantly so than the outside, legions of evergreens surrounded him in the kind of simplistic beauty only nature could offer, various birds could be heard chirping amongst the trees, gossiping about the visitor to their home, every now, a rustle was heard in the trees, which meant some of those chattering animals flew over to spread the news on another tree.

The Avatar walked quickly through rows of evergreens, small patches of light occasionally passing over him warmly, he could never figure out why they chose to live so deep in the forest. He was lucky he felt the vibration in the earth that came before the rock spire, for only so was he able to dodge it effectively, somersaulting on top of it elegantly, and gazing off into the forests.

A woman, dressed in a black robe, on the center of which was a round symbol, the outer ring of which was yellow, the middle, wide one was green, and the inner most circle was goldish-yellow as well.

The uniform had long, wide sleeves, dyed in a very dark shade of olive, ending in golden decorations with smalls of green in them. The female combatant's raised hands were encased in gloves, which Aang knew were made of Earth. So were the soles of her shoes. The long dress uniform would have otherwise limited her, but as she was with no doubt trained to fight effectively in them, so that they hardly obstructed her movements. Her face was hidden under a wide brimmed black china man hat, the outermost ring of which was the same as the uniform's sleeves, there was a green tuft emanating from the top of the hat, attached to a thorn like protrusion. Under the wide and intimidating top emerged long, raven hair, reaching past the woman's shoulders in a stunningly complimenting fashion.

It didn't take Aang more than a second to recognize the woman as a member of the Dai Li, undoubtly his attacker. He skipped off the spire of earth took his stance and stared at her, she was already in hers, legs planted firmly on the ground; hands facing him, firm in the air.

"So you think you can beat the Avatar in an Earthbending duel?" He called tauntingly to her, she nodded solemnly. Aang decided to humor her, he jumped in the air and using the force of his landing, sent a ripple through the earth, at her, she shrugged it off with a slight shift of her leg, and returned her very own assault, sending a small tremor directed at him. Aang hopped over it and opened the fight officially, raising a large boulder by stomping the ground heavily and thrusting at it fiercely, hurling it with force at her. She too bounded in the air, a low jump aimed for distance rather than height. As she was soaring in his direction, she shattered the boulder with her fist and launched the earth gauntlet at him from her opposing hand, the gauntlet imitated the movements of her hand, and as she fisted it, the glove became a solid mass of rock, Aang dodged sideways, only to encounter a spire of earth, sent at him by her as she landed, using her back foot, with which she stamped on the ground, sending the subterranean shift at him.

This time Aang decided on a more direct approach and shattered the spire with an axe kick, which, at the same time, caused a convulsion of Earth to be propelled at her. The Airbender did not relent there however. The monk leaped in the air and bended the dirt around him into a torrent of earth, sending it at her as he touched the ground once more, but just as he landed, the patch of earth he was aiming at rose up to meet him, causing him to slip forwards and crash flatly against it.

In the meanwhile, to defend from Aang's vicious attacks, after making sure no more would come in rapid succession, the woman raised a slab of stone in front of her, blocking the stream of Earth with ease, and cracking slightly as the shockwave hit it. Once the Avatar had landed, recovering from his shameful collision, the Dai Li launched the slab forwards at him, but the former merely raised his hand and stopped it.

Aang swerved around the stone, his heavy steps raising two head-sized rocks, the monk shot his hands forwards, bending the projectiles at the black garbed woman in great speed, then starting a run towards her, two steps behind the boulders.

The raven haired woman caught both rocks in her hands, and crossed them in mid air, throwing them diagonally to the sides of the Avatar; however, as soon as she had done that, she made a clapping motion with her hands, and the rocks made to crush the monk from his flanks, a move which he anticipated. He leaped forwards at her, the earth imitating his motion, raising a strong stone spire at her.

He touched down right in front of her, sending the woman a triumphant smile as the earth projection was hanging threateningly at her neck level. However, he noticed that the woman was smiling widely under her hat, and a careful observation showed him that he was in the exact same position, an earth spire threatening to remove his head from his shoulders, it was an impasse.

The Dai Li lifted her head upwards so that he could see both of her milky-green eyes, and smiled heartily at her Avatar.

"Nice match Twinkle-Toes…" she uttered, much amusement in her restrained voice. Instantly both spires descended back into their earthly home, and both opponents stood upright facing each other, then tearing into joined laughter.

* * *

Author Notes: There it is, the second chapter, I tried to make it shorter than the last one. I hope the fighting scene turned out alright, I didn't want to make it a serious battle because neither of them would want to ruin the forest, but bigger fights are yet to come, so don't worry! That's all for now, I'll try to update soon. And don't forget to review! Honest opinions (whether good or bad) are welcome! 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

To an outsider, it might have seemed peculiar to see a woman in the uniform of a Dai Li and an Airbender monk hugging lovingly in the forest. For the two rarely had much to do with each other, the Dai Li staying in Ba Sing Se, and Airbenders rarely seen far away from their temples.

However, those who knew who those people were would hardly be surprised. Toph Bei Fong and Avatar Aang were friends since they were children, and helped save the world from the greedy clutches of Fire Lord Ozai.

Age has done well to the once minute Earthbender, whereas before she was very short, seemingly fragile, and rather lacking in the physical department (apart from muscles, of course), she had grown much taller, now standing almost as high as her husband, with a finely shaped physique, long, slightly-past-shoulder-length hair, and a remarkably deceptive, handsome appearance, which of course hardly did justice to her deadliness. Then again, Aang did know Azula, and Katara, so it wasn't that special to him.

"I'm so glad to see you again Toph." The tall monk said warmly, separating himself from the embrace, but keeping his hands on the woman's shoulders. The Earthbender brushed one of her bangs aside and smiled at him.

"Right back at'cha… Avatar." She said teasingly, still smiling.

"I see you're wearing your Dai Li uniform, how's that going for you? Being the leader of the Dai Li?" He inquired politely, now removing his hands and leaning on one foot, missing his staff somewhat.

"Oh, well you know, I'm not as politically involved as Long Feng was, a good thing if you ask me. I'm just the leader of the Dai Li and their trainer. You know, back when we were fighting them I never realized how useful these gloves were. I can actually feel strong vibrations in the air with them." She "examined" her one glove with interest, "Wow, have we really never talked about that before?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah… I'm really sorry I never came around to visit…" Aang started, but the Earthbender quickly silenced him with a wave of her hand.

"It doesn't matter, you've been there when we needed you, and that's all I care about." She informed him firmly, beginning to walk down the path alongside him. The atmosphere darkened after she said that, however.

"So how's it going between you two?" The monk asked quietly, and the Dai Li knew exactly to what he was referring.

"Well… not that good, you know… ever since Yue's accident Sokka hasn't been himself…" She stated darkly, "He was devastated after it happened, and he's been growing very distant…" Her tone became gradually quieter, and then she just let it all out. "He won't even sleep in the same room with me anymore!" The raven haired beauty called, whether it was anger or desperation in her voice Aang couldn't tell. "And he's only barely acknowledging Kanna's existence any more."

The Avatar looked at her sadly; he was there at Yue's resting ceremony, along with many other people. For a parent to have to bury their children was a terrible thing, truly horrible. Aang couldn't even imagine what Toph had been going through ever since then. And it appeared her relationship with Sokka has now reached a crisis point.

Aang knew why it was so; so far, two people that Sokka loved died because he failed to guard them, first Princess Yue, then his firstborn daughter, whom he named after said princess. He must have been completely overwhelmed, he remembered how the warrior was overprotective of Suki, back in the war, and now it seemed it was for a good reason. One bright point in this nightmare was that at least Suki remained alive, otherwise, Aang shuddered at the thought of what Sokka might do to himself.

"How has Kanna been dealing with it?"

"As well as to be expected, she's tough that girl…" The Dai Li replied softly, and the monk wrapped an arm around her shoulders gently.

"Just like her mother…" He said, and Toph sent him a small appreciative smile. The duo continued their walk so for several more moments, with Aang's arm around Toph's shoulders, and Toph looking at the floor contemplatively.

Then they reached a large clearing in the forest, where a humble, yet large house stood, made of stone, and roofed remarkably like the houses in Ba Sing Se, which differentiated much from the stonework, which seemed more southern and intricate, whereas the roofing was simple and unstylish.

"Well here we are…" The Earthbender removed her hat and stepped through the door inside, where a young, brown haired, yet pale girl was sitting in meditation her eyes closed, bending fist sized, and completely spherical rocks in the air around her circularly.

"Kanna, we have a visitor! It's uncle Aang!" The girl opened her un-matching eyes and looked at the Airbender in excited surprise; the rocks dropped to the floor as the ten years old stood up and ran to hug him.

"Uncle Aang!" She cried, hugging the monk's feet and looking up at him in admiration, "Did you bring me any gifts? Huh, did you?" She asked excitedly, letting go of him and quivering with anticipation.

"Uh… sure… it's a very nice gift…" The bald adult declared hastily, bending a part of the stone free behind his back and shaping it into a fine lotus replica, he'd apologize to Toph later for borrowing her house. He had made such figures before, on his spare time. It was easy enough to do with Earthbending, though he had preferred to use the non-bending way, it was much more rewarding in his opinion.

He then presented the lotus made of rock to her, crouching down so he was at her level and though her eyes widened at the visage of it, she said, "You know uncle Aang, I _**can**_ tell when you Earthbend." She giggled at the look of embarrassment on his face, but took the lotus non-the less and gave the uncomfortable Airbender a peck on the cheek. She then proceeded to skip around the house with the lotus hovering around her.

"She really controls the Earth, doesn't she? Most Earthbenders just throw, push and shape the Earth, but for her it's almost symbiotic." he commented, rising up once more and looking at the blue and green eyed child with interest.

"Yes, she says she doesn't control the Earth, but rather works with it." The woman giggled, "She talks about it like it's a real person, says that while they're together they're strong." Toph looked at her daughter dreamily, and her eyes shun with tears, though whether of mirth or sadness was unclear.

"I'll make us some tea…" The Earthbender hastily disappeared to the kitchen, probably so that her friend won't see her in her weak moment. She never liked to display weakness, she always insisted she wasn't weak, and nothing like her parents described her, and so whenever she had even shown a faintest sign of fragility, she instantly fled out of sight, at most cases having a panic attack while she did so. Aang and the other have never commented about it when they were young, and he wasn't about to comment on it now. But he felt she needed to come to terms with her being a human. Humans have their strengths and their weaknesses, it's what makes them humans, pros and cons, flaws and flairs, it's what gives them balance.

Several moments later, Toph returned to the living area with a tray carrying a teapot and two mugs for them to drink from.

"Jasmine," She mentioned as she set down the tray, "my favorite."

The woman sat down on the sofa comfortably next to her Airbending friend, and took one of the mugs, blowing on it softly before asking, "So, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"Some bad news, Haru was murdered last night." Aang said heavily, observing Toph's features turn into darkened surprise, then into something else, which the Avatar could only describe as "the look she had when she felt her family was vulnerable", because he could not associate it with anything else, for he had only ever seen it twice in his life, once at Yue's resting ceremony, and the second time just at that moment.

"Is Suki alright?" She asked seriously, and Aang hastened to assure her of the ex-warrior's safety. The Dai Li let out a sigh of tremendous relief, and Aang sympathized with her, for he too understood what it would mean to Sokka if Suki would have fell as well.

"It was an alien Toph, I couldn't beat it." The Avatar began to explain, "Avatar Roku said I have to gather the four most powerful benders in the world, and I had a vision where the order was revealed to me, opposite of my cycle, starting with Earth, you."

Toph listened carefully to every word her old pupil spoke, and she could tell by his tone that this was no joke, though it would be a pretty lousy one if it was. Though she had a hard time believing that an alien was really involved.

The two heard the door to the house open and close, and Sokka stepped inside, his chin-length brown hair even more untidy than usual. He gaped at Aang through his aqua eyes dumbly for several moments before actually registering what he was seeing.

"Aang!" He called, and moved towards him quickly. As the monk stood up, he grabbed him in a close embrace, patting him strongly on the back.

"What're you doing around these parts?" The warrior asked, and Aang gave him a weak smile. Though at the moment the warrior was beaming, his visage was not at all pleasant. Certainly, he was one of the more attractive males around Ba Sing Se, but ever since the death of his daughter, his visage became more and more unpleasant, not due to any physical changes, but rather due to the unpleasant aura clinging to him since.

"Haru's been murdered Sokka," Toph answered, and Aang decided it would be best to let her talk to him. Sokka turned his head at her in alarm.

"And Suki?" The blue-wearing man asked in alarm.

"She's perfectly fine, and safe." Toph said, though Aang did not disclose that exact information to her yet.

Sokka looked slightly relieved, but shocked nonetheless.

"Who was it Aang, did you get him?"

Aang shuffled his feet uncomfortably, "This is going to sound strange Sokka, but it was an alien, it came from a…"

"Meteor?" Sokka asked surprisingly, both Aang and Toph looked at him in shock.

"Yeah… how did you know?" The Airbender asked, staring at his old friend intently.

"One of my men on the wall saw a meteor yesterday, and went to call me, it's not something you see everyday, so I let him have the rest of the night off, but you mean he came from that meteor? But how would it have gotten all the way over to Suki? It was just near the Serpent's Pass." The warrior explained in a torrent, watching as the monk's expression turned into dread.

"The one I'm talking about didn't crash near the Serpent's Pass Sokka, the one I'm talking about crashed right near their house. There're more of them…" He said disbelievingly.

_"There was something moving around my farm, a creature made of Earth! I swear it on my hands!" _The vision of a frightened farmer materialized before him, constantly looking over his shoulder.

"Oh no…" The Avatar whispered, he should have taken the farmer more seriously!

"Listen Sokka, I talked to Avatar Roku, he said that to defeat the aliens I need to gather the four greatest benders in the world, Toph's one, and we need to get the others, would you be alright here by yourself?" The monk asked quickly, looking between the Earthbender and the warrior.

"What do you mean alright here by myself? I'm coming with you, and don't even think about arguing. Though, what about Kanna?" He suddenly asked, and Aang only just remembered the little girl, who was sitting on the far side of the living room, listening carefully to what everyone were saying.

"That's okay, I can give her to my right hand in the Dai Li. Aang, you remember Hope, right?" She asked, and Aang's features brightened slightly.

"Isn't that the girl Katara delivered after we went through the serpent's pass for the first time?" He asked, and Toph nodded.

"Right, it's settled then, I'll go and pack a few stuff, when we drop off Kanna in Ba Sing Se we can stock up on supplies for the road. It's gonna be just like old times!" The blue-wearing man sped out of the room and disappeared, Toph was smiling slightly at his newfound enthusiasm.

000

The next morning, after spending the night in the hostel at the port city, the four appeared in Ba Sing Se, Aang, Toph and Kanna went over to the upper quarter, to enter the palace, while Sokka went to get supplies in the lower quarter, which in the time after the war has become much more reasonable.

The Airbender followed Toph as she passed by inspection after inspection of guards and Dai Li on her way inside the palace, where she was to meet with Hope, in the king's chamber.

When they had entered the throne room through the new (diamond encrusted!) fancy doors, an honor guard of Dai Li was waiting to send Toph off. The Earthbender had no idea how they ever realized she was going, but she enjoyed the tribute nonetheless.

"Ah, my faithful Toph," The Earth King said, spreading his arms wide, he had aged much since Aang last saw him, and his hair was now graying, as well as his innocence being gone from his face, and his bear gone from his side. "I am sad to hear news of your departure, but from what we understood from the Avatar, it is of great importance to this world."

Toph turned sideways at Aang, and though she could not see it, he sent a guilty smile at her.

Another female Dai Li stepped towards Toph from the flanking rows and hugged her. Aang could never have hoped to recognize Hope, seeing as he only saw her once as a baby. But she looked so much like her mother, that it was really easy for him to distinguish her. She him a friendly smile and said jokingly.

"You had better take good care of her, we want our leader back."

After an hour of more, in which Aang and Toph talked to the Earth King, and Hope, in regards to their mission, and other things that they just wanted said, the two said goodbye to Kanna, both hugging her and urging her to be good.

As they left they could hear Hope talking to Kanna, her tone was light and cheerful.

"So I hear your mother has been teaching you Earthbending." She said brightly.

"Yes she has, do you want to see what she taught me?" The girl asked, and Hope laughed, assuring her that once they found a room for her, she would watch everything the girl had to offer.

"Such a sweet girl, Hope, I'm happy she ended up well." Aang said, smiling contently.

"Yes, she's actually a great Earthbender," Toph commented, "One of the most reliable people I ever met too."

They continued by meeting up with Sokka, who had been so far shopping for supplies, when they had linked up, the warrior asked.

"Is Kanna alright?" To which Toph nodded with a slight hum of acknowledgement, "Are we riding Appa?" She then asked Aang, who was taking some of Sokka's bags off him, to lighten his load.

"Yes, but we'll have to go to the Eastern Air Temple to get him, I'd also like to talk to Suki again about that alien, see if she can tell me more." The monk replied.

"Poor Haru…" Toph mentioned sadly, "Poor Suki, what will she do without him?"

"She's tough, she'll get over it, I'm sure she will." Sokka conversed confidently, "I still can't believe it though, Haru was a good bender. If that thing could beat him…"

"I remind you, he beat me." Aang said seriously, "And if there's more of him, we need to be very careful, Sokka, I know you're considered one of the greatest non-bending warriors in the world, but I still want you to be careful. Okay?"

Sokka sent the Airbender a confident smile, "Hey I can handle myself, it's not like I'm fifteen again, right? I've faced down some powerful benders in my life, including you dear." He suddenly addressed Toph.

"That's not fair, you cheated! Tickling isn't fair!" The Earthbender called indignantly, and Aang laughed.

"It was a clever tactic, I mean, if you could sense even the smallest vibrations in your feet; you _**had**_ to be ticklish, right? I just used that to my advantage." The warrior reasoned jokingly.

"You tickled me until I was out of breath!" The woman argued and all laughed.

"So, Avatar-boy, what's our next stop after the Air temple?" The blue wearing man asked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"The next nation in the opposite cycle," Aang said, staring at the horizon, "The Fire Nation."

* * *

Author Notes:

So, here's the newest chapter, I hope you liked it. I'm not gonna just zap them over to the Fire Nation of course, there's plenty of stuff on the way (of course, nothing ever goes as planned for the Avatar). I hope the next chapter will be out soon, and people, review! I want to hear what you ALL think. Until next time, this is Cursor, signing off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The orange twilight contributed so greatly to the scene that unraveled before the Avatar and his friends. The scarlet light spreading over the wreckage and debris of what was once a well taken care of farm, the same farm, in fact, that Aang had visited the other day. Fortunately, the reddish hue of the setting sun was the only crimson in sight, and the sight of fleeing footprints did much to calm the party.

Sokka, having seen first hand what the seemingly harmless meteors caused, seemed to be facing an inward battle: Where one side wished to drag Toph away to their homes, in order to keep her safe, the other reasoned that no matter what Sokka would do, Toph would remain with Aang. Such was the woman he loved, and had married.

Aang himself began to have second thoughts about the whole affair, and he remembered Avatar Roku's warning, which made his spine prickle. He hadn't warned Toph, he hadn't given her the warning.

"Toph," The monk addressed her firmly, "Avatar Roku told me, that I have to warn you, because there's a real danger that we could all die. And I mean all of us."

"What's your point?" The woman asked calmly, and an immense rush of gratitude flooded Aang, though it was lessened somewhat from the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. If any of his friends died on this journey, it would be on his conscience.

"Yeah Aang, we're with you, they can't drive us off with scare tactics." Sokka made it clear, putting his arm around his wife's shoulders, which surprised her somewhat, but seemed to make her more relaxed.

"Thanks guys, I could always count on you." The three shared a short group hug, before Aang noticed something.

"That rock wasn't here yesterday…" The monk noted, breaking the hug and moving over to the rocky outcrop ahead of him, he inspected it carefully.

"Uh, Aang, step back from that thing…" Toph suddenly said; her voice strange somewhat, Sokka looked at her worriedly; she obviously sensed something in the ground "Aang, get back!" With a fluid pulling motion with her hands she moved the surface of the ground the monk was standing on backwards, as a gigantic, stony hand burst through the spot where he was standing on a moment ago.

The three friends all took a step backwards, entering their fighting stances, Sokka during so drawing two machetes from their holders on his back. The three observed as the rocky outcrop emerging from the land, was in fact the head and shoulders of a titanic human-shaped cluster of rocks. The earth-man was suddenly lifted to its full height, well above the three warriors, yet not enough to be considered a true giant.

"What in the world is that?" The unbending warrior asked, looking up to the faceless head of the earthy colossus. "Is this what you fought?"

Aang shook his head frantically, "Not at all." But that was all the two managed to say, for a second later, they were thrown in the air by Toph, who was lifted up with them, as the three landed on the ground some distance away, they saw why the Earthbending master had done so – where they were just standing three rocky skewers were now present. The rock was an Earthbender.

Toph sent her arm forwards in a thrust, experimentally trying to bend the creature, to no avail. The creature sent a shockwave at them as it advanced, stomping heavily on the ground, but Toph blocked it easily.

"What do we do? I can't bend it!" The woman asked, turning her head backwards towards Aang, but it was the warrior next to the monk who replied.

"We take it down!" He said and charged forwards, dodging sideways as another tremor wave was sent by the creature. As he neared the creature he leaped in the air, landing on the creature's knee, and slashing at its side, breaking free some earth, then jumping upwards and landing on it's sturdy shoulder, delivering two strikes in quick succession to its head, then somersaulting over the creature's back, sending one final slash to it before the rock monster turned, swatting the tribesman away with its massive arm.

Sokka was flung over sideways a great deal, and landed heavily on the ground, which was immediately cushioned by Toph as she felt his body strike it. Aang in the meanwhile charged at the monster himself, sending a powerful gust at the beast, knocking out a large part off its side.

The creature roared in protest, landing its mighty hand on the ground, causing a massive tremor which paralyzed the Airbender, but not his Earthbending companion, who, due to her uncanny sense anticipated the attack and leaped over it. As Toph landed, she sent a powerful rock spire at the enemy, completely shattering its leg, which made it roar once more, as it came crashing down.

The woman smiled triumphantly, until she suddenly felt the ground shift underneath the creature, it lifted in the air and refilled the gaps that she and Aang had made.

"It's regenerating!" Aang called, and the Earthbender called back at him sarcastically.

"You think?"

"We need to separate it from the Earth!" The recovered Sokka yelled from the other side of the creature, "Aang, we need to drive him over to a lake. There has to be one nearby for the farmers to water their crops."

"Good idea Sokka, Toph, can you sense it?" The Avatar asked, sending a few distracting air blasts at the creature, which only seemed to make it angrier. It lifted a boulder in the air over his head, but before it had a chance to throw it, a flash of metal passed above it, and both of its arms were cleaved off, sending the rock crashing on the head of the rock creature.

Unfortunately, however, the creature only absorbed the earthy projectile, and if anything, it only made it bigger.

"Shoot!" Sokka called, catching his boomerang, "My bad!"

"It doesn't matter, there's a big lake a little bit past the farm that way, come on!" Toph called, pointing away from the road and into the farmland. All three began to flee in that direction, Aang jogging backwards and sending air blasts at his stony foe to anger it into following them.

The creature, fortunately, did just that, pounding after the group heavily, causing slight quakes as its heavy feet landed on the ground. When the group finally reached the lake the companions halted, seemingly cornered and faced the monster.

Sokka and Toph entered their battle stance, but Aang spread his arms to hold them back, indicating that they should not get involved.

"Stay out of the way." The Avatar instructed, and Sokka sent his wife a questioning look, turning his head towards her. She shrugged, and the two went at ease, observing as their friend charged at the monster, leaping at it's torso with a double kick, sending it a step backwards, then somersaulting backwards, and dodging one of it's massive hands as it went to swat him as it did Sokka earlier. As he landed on the floor again, the orange garbed man dodged yet another strike by the beast, as it made to crush him against the earth with its fist, however the avatar merely skipped backwards, and instead ran all the way up its arm unto its shoulder, jumping off it to the creature's back side, turning in mid air and sending yet another double kick. This time however, it was aimed at the creature's back, and this time, it was accompanied by a very concentrated gust of air, sending the creature soaring forwards, past the married couple, who both dived sideways in the nick of time and straight into the lake.

The monk didn't stop there however, he sprinted forwards in blazing speed, and sent a shockwave of air at the beast, tearing through the land and water on its way, and then completely breaking the earth monster apart, and with no more Earth to absorb, and with one final roar, the creature was defeated.

Toph and her husband cheered jubilantly, raising their fists in the air, "Swat me down will you?" The warrior cried over to the several rocks still above the water's surface.

"You did it Aang!" Toph cheered, and the Air Nomad grinned.

"This quest is looking easier already!" he responded, but as he did, Toph's face fell.

And the two men soon realized why, as from the other side of the lake, no less than five more of the beasts were standing, facing them, and more were emerging from the ground as they stared, Toph entered her battle stance, but Sokka seemed reluctant.

"We can still take them, all we have to do is throw them in the…" The Earthbending woman started, but suddenly, the unsaid lake was completely overlapped by earth, turning it into thick mud, and then, it was completely covered. Ruining the group's only shot at victory.

"Lake…" The Earthbender finished quietly, turning her head to Aang for instruction.

"We can't beat them now; we have to keep going, if those things are up because of the aliens from the meteor…" The monk theorized, and Sokka finished his words.

"Then if we beat them they would vanish. Come on, we have to double time to the air temple." Sokka said, turning his back on the rocky beasts.

"But Aang, it could take us months to get all the way to gather everyone! I mean, it'll take us days to get to the Fire Nation, not counting supply stops, or distractions, and we'll have to go all the way to the South Pole after that!" Toph argued, and the Avatar's shoulders slumped.

"I know Toph, but what can we do? We could throw all of them in the ocean, but who knows how many are there? Avatar Roku knows what he says, and he said to gather everyone if we're going to face down this threat. And… as much as I don't like this, that's what we have to do. I'm sure the Earth Army can hold those things back until we return." He said sadly, lowering his gaze.

"No Aang, you don't understand what I'm saying; what if there were more than two meteors? What if those things are all over the world?"

"Uh, guys, I think we should get moving here…" Sokka said, as the imposing group of living earth began to move towards them.

"Ugh," Aang grunted, and his eyes flashed in white for a moment, as he was about to enter the Avatar State, in order to destroy the stony invader, when suddenly, he had heard the voice of his mentor.

"No Aang! Whatever you do, do not enter the Avatar State! Not now! It will spell doom for our world!"

"Blast it!" The current Avatar yelled in response, "I can't go into the Avatar State; we have to go, now!"

Sokka had to drag Toph away from the lake as they retreated, though he knew perfectly well that if Toph would have wanted to stay there, an army would not be able to move her. The danger in this journey suddenly became very clear to the warrior, he knew he was powerless and could not prevent Toph from going, but he wanted to stop her with all his heart. On the other hand, the world needed them, Aang needed them, and he'd never feel right about himself if he really denied him that help. But his greatest fear swelled as the newfound dreads sunk unto him, the fear he would fail to protect yet another person he loved.

"You two keep moving, I have to go and warn the Earth King, I can get there faster by myself, I'll catch up to you guys." Aang ordered quickly, and took off in blinding speed towards Ba Sing Se.

None of the two had time to argue, neither would they. Alone, he could get there much faster than the two of them, being the master of all four elements he could sprint over the ground, water, and simply jump over the wall of the city in a matter of minutes.

"Well I don't know about you, but I need to take a leak, all of this pressure really got to me." Sokka mentioned and winced in guilt as his wife accused him.

"That and the six glasses of drink you had on the ferry."

And so Toph stood alone on the road, yawning slightly due to boredom, when suddenly she heard a strange whistling sound from behind, and her gloves warned her that something big was moving fast towards her, but just as she was about to spring into action, she was pushed out of the way by someone, and unto the ground.

As she landed, the Dai Li could feel the person raising a large stone wall in front of him, completely shattering whatever object was moving towards him.

"Yeah you better run! Stupid bandits…" The unknown "savior" muttered under his breath. "Sorry I had to push you miss…" The man extended a hand to help her up, and then noticed her outfit, she was in her full Dai Li uniform, "oh, you're a Dai Li… I'm sorry; you could've probably handled it by yourself then."

"Yes, I could, though it's the thought that counts." The Earthbender hoisted herself up using the Earth, and dusted off her robes. At which point her husband came back from wherever he was when he needed to expel his fluids, so to say.

"Uh, who's that?" He asked, and Toph gestured at the man, but realized she didn't really know.

"My name is Shang, and… you're from the Water Tribe." The man mentioned silently.

Sokka surveyed the muscular person, he was wearing standard peasants clothing, his face was long and he had a slight goatee, something seemed fishy about him to Sokka, his eyes seemed quite calculating.

"Uh, yeah." The warrior responded.

"Then… you're Toph Bei Fong! Oh Terra, I'm sorry, if I'd have known!" The man quickly bowed apologetically, stepping backwards in respect and looking at the woman in awe.

"Ah," The raven haired woman said, obviously pleased with herself, "I'm just too popular for my own good…" But her smile turned to a frown as her chosen mate gave a fake cough.

"I do believe he didn't recognize you until he saw me, dear..." The warrior mentioned, and the other Earthbender intervened.

"Actually, I don't really know your name; I just know that the only Water Tribesman living in the Earth Kingdom is married to Ms. Bei Fong…" He conversed, still observing the woman with interest, as she gave her husband a proud smile.

"Yes, you keep on smiling…." Shang said menacingly under his breath, and the wedded couple stared at him perplexingly.

"Excuse me?" Toph asked skeptically.

"Because you have a lovely smile…" The man hastened to add once he realized he was heard, closing his eyes and grinning sheepishly.

Toph turned her head towards her husband, who quickly gestured by twirling his finger to the side of his head, which made her giggle slightly.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Toph spun around; sending her hand forwards and raising a stone wall in front of her, though the wall was wide enough cover the entire road. An object could be heard shattering against it; Sokka noticed that Shang was already in a fighting pose when Toph raised the wall, which was suddenly dropped, though obviously not by Toph, as she looked extremely surprised when it transpired.

"Someone took it from me…" She muttered incoherently, at least to Sokka, as the Earthbender next to her also seemed intimidated by whatever just happened.

Sokka looked over to see if there was anything in the direction of the wall, and was instantly paralyzed, as his view focused on a creature he had never seen before.

He could only describe it as a hybrid between a human, and an extremely well built one at that, and a reptile. The creature stood tall at at least eight feet, far surpassing him and his wife, with a very powerful build. The creature's head was smooth and long, lizard-like, with a boulder-shattering grin which held rows of dagger-like teeth. The creature's scales were deep olive in color, with a very obvious tinge of turquoise, and it had a strong-looking tail, possibly strong enough to knock out a person in a single swipe.

The creature's waist was covered by simple cloth, forming crude and loose pants, which were worn out of courtesy alone, as it was obvious there was nothing really beneath them.

Instantly two large boulders raised themselves near it, and with a lunge and thrusting motion, both boulders sped forwards at the two Earthbenders, both of which instantly pushed back against them, trying to stop their motion, however, as the rocks struck their outstretched hands, both benders were thrown backwards a distance before being able to stop.

The creature however did not stop its attack there, it stomped the ground with its farthest leg and began making pulling and pushing movements with its hands, which reminded Sokka of a Waterbending technique Katara once used, and as it did so, the road began to quake, lifting off of the ground and snaking wave-like in the air, knocking Sokka out of balance and knocking him around in the fierce movement.

The two Earthbenders however, with their affinity to Earth, did not detach their feet from it, though both seemed paralyzed for several moments, until Toph finally sent forwards her hand, the back of her fist aimed at the road so that a bystander might have thought she was making a rude gesture at it. As she did that, the next wave of stone smashed in the air in front of her, raising a cloud of dirt which she immediately dispersed. As the rocking motions finally stopped, a slightly dizzy Sokka leaped to his feet and instantly hurled his boomerang at the assaulting creature, which in the meanwhile sent a spiked chunk of earth the size of a house at the two Earthbenders, who had to use their entire combined strength to fend it off.

The creature noticed the boomerang instantly and lazily sent out a hand, the boomerang stopped in mid air and suddenly turned at the disbelieving warrior, who had to cross both his machetes in front of him to stop his very own weapon from beheading him.

The two Earthbenders, oblivious to what had just transpired, finally launched their own attacks at the creature, Toph sending a massive row of rising stone spires at it, through the ground, and Shang delivering a series of precise blows to head-sized rocks he summoned, sending them soaring towards the reptilian creature.

The creature performed a circular kick, landing his foot on the ground heavily and causing Toph's incoming ridge of rocks to be averted, and at the same time with its hand it send out a quick jab in the air, smashing the rocks hurled at him by Shang.

Toph in the meanwhile continued the onslaught, sending a ripple of Earth at her opponent, which she rode, encasing herself with Earth as she progressed, then, as the creature predictably smashed the ripple, raising his hand upwards in the air; Toph launched herself at him, but was amazed as she was suddenly stopped in mid air. She hadn't counted on him bending the rocks she was bending, so she hadn't raised a defensive to his will, and was easily tossed into the ground.

But at that precise moment, the creature was sent backwards a bit by a concentrated gust of wind, which he blocked by crossing its arms in front of it. The reptile was dragged backwards, but didn't seem to really mind.

Sokka, still stunned at the creature's display of power, was startled when grabbed by Aang, along with Shang and Toph, and the four were suddenly riding a wave of Earth away from the creature.

"That's more like what I fought!" The Air Nomad declared hurriedly as they progressed.

"He's more powerful than I am…" Toph whispered, almost in disbelief, but then again, she was there.

"More than both of us combined!" Shang sputtered, obviously flabbergasted by this turn of events.

"Two powerful Earthbenders, the best warrior in the world, and the Avatar couldn't beat that thing, now what?" Shang queried.

"We didn't try to, nor should we; we have a mission to do…" The Avatar started, but was suddenly cut across by the warrior.

"Uh, Aang, sorry to cut off your train of thought, but that thing's chasing us…" The Tribesman stated, pointing behind them at the creature, also riding a wave of Earth in hot pursuit.

"I can't, I have to keep this thing going." Aang said, Toph nodded at Shang, and he nodded back, and both Earthbenders raised an immensely thick wall of stone behind them, effectively blocking the creature from passing on its wave, and holding it there in case it tried to lower it.

Instead however, the creature merely leaped on top of it and stared at the group as they sped away from the top of the newly erected vantage point. It didn't seem pleased at all, and its grin faded.

"So be it." It hissed angrily, and immediately the wall of stone was collapsed, and it was standing on the road once more, unscathed.

* * *

Author Notes: Well, this story doesn't seem to be doing very well. People barely even enter it, which surprises me I must say. Maybe I should rethink the title or the summary? Any suggestions would be welcome.

And those who do enter, and like this story, or at least think there's some room for improvement, say it! I'd also like to thank my one faithful reviewer, he knows who he is, and you should probably too, since he's the only one… heh.

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	5. Chapter 5

Author Notes: Alright! I see the story's picking up! Joys! I've already apologized to her, but I'd like to post a public apology to skittlesandcombos, for accidentally naming her a guy instead of a girl. Anywho, why am I holding you?

* * *

Chapter Five

After perhaps a full day of traveling away from Ba Sing Se, at top speed, the shaken group of people finally stopped, as darkness forbade them from proceeding. The three men in the group collected dry wood, and with a small dose of Firebending, the fire was lit.

"What, in the Earth King's name, was that thing?" The Earthbender named Shang inquired agitatedly, looking rapidly from the Avatar to Toph and Sokka.

"We don't know, possibly an alien." Toph answered, looking at her Airbending friend through the corner of her eyes.

"I thought you said the one you fought didn't bend?" she asked him, obviously forgetting one simple detail, there were two meteors.

"That wasn't the one I fought." The obvious answer rang out in the tense silence.

"Um, guys? Am I the only one who saw it bending my boomerang?" Sokka pointed out, and all of the other three stared at him in astonishment.

"What do you mean it bended your boomerang?" Aang asked alertly, this information would not bode well for them at all, if that creature could bend metal, then it had a great advantage.

"I threw my boomerang at it, and it came right back at me." The Tribesman explained hurriedly and excitedly.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I thought boomerangs are supposed to do that?" Shang raised the obvious question and everyone sent skeptic looks at the warrior.

"No! I mean it was heading towards that thing, stopped in mid air, it just floated there, and then it shot back at me." The frantic man replied.

"He never touched your boomerang." The Dai Li reasoned, she would have felt the vibrations passing through it if the creature was touching it, but the warrior only nodded, and crossed his arms.

"Exactly," He said, "That thing just pointed at it and it shot right back at me."

"That's impossible; he wouldn't be able to manipulate the metal, with so little Earth without touching it. Even I can't." The sole woman in the group spoke confidently, but everyone else suddenly seemed very preoccupied as a disturbing truth sunk in. That thing had bested Toph Bei Fong, the mythical Earthbender, yet undefeated in an Earth Duel, winner of any and all legally sanctioned tournaments, (and some illegal ones before she finally joined the Dai Li). Something neither one, nor group of Earthbenders of this world managed to. The girl had bested the Earth King's entire royal guard when she was just twelve, and by now he powers must have increased exponentially, but that creature just swooped in and made a fool out of her.

Aang stared at Toph, worried at her denial, she seemed slightly orange in the light of the fire, and he could see it dancing in her blind eyes, "That thing's not from around here Toph, it's not human; we don't know anything about what it can and can't do." As he said that, Sokka went to stand next to his wife and pulled her closer to him, holding her by her waist.

The warrior seemed very preoccupied because of something, but did not share it, and the others shrugged it off as concern for his spouse, and his friends, of course, it was impossible to tell what Shang was thinking at that moment, since he was very quiet and stared at the fire intently.

"We could have taken on that thing, if it hadn't surprised us, between the four of us." Toph said fairly, "After all, we never really got to the point where we put up an actual fight."

Shang rubbed his chin contemplatively and raised an interesting point, "I've never seen a technique like his before, the way he averted your ascending ridge," He turned to Toph, "It reminded me of Firebenders I've seen."

"And that thing he did with the road, it really reminded me of how Katara bends." Sokka added, musingly, "I don't know how that's going to help us though."

Toph closed her eyes, disgusted at what she was about to say, "I vote we keep moving," The Dai Li suggested, "We need to do what Avatar Roku told you, we don't have time to try and take that alien down."

"I'm with Toph," Aang agreed, "We have to get to the Eastern Air Temple." He spoke very quietly, so much so, in fact, that the crackling fire drowned his voice easily. "I don't understand it; Avatar Roku never gave me a chance to put up a fight against those things. He wouldn't even let me enter the Avatar State, why's it so important to him that we gather everyone?"

"I don't know Aang, but he has to have a pretty good reason. After all, he pit you against Ozai when you were just twelve, with only several month to master three bending elements." Sokka explained his supposition, "So I can't really imagine why he would tell you to back off now that you've had twenty five years to practice."

Shang, clearly the outsider in this conversation, listened quietly, only barely comprehending what they were discussing. "This is depressing," He said finally, "We should relax until the morning, it'll only do us bad to worry."

"I'm with Earthy." Sokka said, and said Earthbender sent him a questioning look.

"Earthy?" He asked flatly.

"I uh, forgot your name." The warrior explained with an awkward grin.

"That's okay, I never knew yours." The Earthbender retorted nonchalantly, and Toph laughed out, remembering their earlier conversation with Shang.

"Oh yes, keep laughing." Shang muttered under his breath again, and all three companions stared at him suspiciously.

"Because that's what I call relaxing!" The Earthbender added hurriedly, smirking sheepishly.

"Okay, you _have_ to cut that out." Toph stated, "It's creepy."

"Yeah, what's with that?" Sokka inquired, "I mean, in all fairness, you sound like some sort of vindictive maniac." The Earthbender rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Actually, well you have to understand it's a bit uncomfortable, but I've had these my whole life. Sometimes, unwillingly, I assure you; my thoughts just come out as words." He laughed uncomfortably, "Yeah… anyway, I wanted to ask you if maybe I could tag along with you guys?"

"Tag along? Do you _not_ understand that we're gonna be fighting at least two of those aliens?" Toph asked wearily, as the late hour and the events of the day finally wore her down.

"Yeah, but, I mean, what's more exciting than helping the Avatar? And, it's not everyday where someone could hang out with two of the most famous people in the world right?" The Earthbender moved his gaze from Toph to Aang, causing Sokka to grit his teeth in dismay.

Aang looked at him uncertainly, sure it might help if there was someone else along, but Avatar Roku didn't say anything about other benders, and taking him along might overweight Appa.

"No." Sokka answered for the monk, "Aang, Appa isn't as young as he used to be, he wouldn't be able to carry so many people. I mean, we have at least three more people to pick up right? And we weigh just a bit more than we used to."

"He's got a point." Toph stated simply, shrugging. "I suppose you could tag along until we reach the Eastern Air Temple, but that's about as far as we can carry you."

"Well, better than nothing right?" Shang asked hopefully.

"Well, I guess it's okay…" Aang finally decided, and Sokka continued.

"But don't do anything stupid. We're not going to have your blood on our hands." He clarified, obviously displeased at Aang's decision. "And if you try anything, you're going to lose some very important organs." The warrior's eyes narrowed as he said that, and Toph turned to him with alarm, knowing full well by his breathing and heart-rate, that he meant every word.

Shang was taken aback slightly by this comment, but simply nodded silently.

"I'm taking first watch, Aang; I'll wake you up at midnight to replace me." The tribesman asserted, taking charge.

And so everyone went to sleep, Aang, Toph and Shang raising Earth Tents for themselves.

The warrior clutched his side painfully as they rolled into sleep, not daring to fall to his knees in fear that Toph would wake up due to the vibrations. He opened up his jacket, to reveal a blood-stained under-shirt. He was lucky it was autumn, otherwise his jacket wouldn't hide the blood.

He lifted his shirt slowly, wincing as he did so, it took great concentration to not show any sign he was wounded, especially while being around Toph, who could sense his heart rate, breathing and even the tiniest of movements. He had a large and deep gash on his side, which he received by the side of the road as the alien Earthbender lifted it in the air. He was quick enough to turn his jacket inside out as he got up, so that the tear was on the other side of his torso, and didn't reveal any of the blood. He couldn't let them know he was injured, they already had doubts about him being on this quest with them, and he couldn't let himself be taken out of it, he had to protect Toph, no matter what.

The wound was ugly, and dirty too, he had to was it, and then burn it to prevent infections, and to close it quickly. It was going to leave a nasty scar if he did that, and Toph would find out sooner or later. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her about it though. After a quick moment of thought, he looked around quickly, to make sure all were asleep, and he snuck off into the night. He figured that if anything nearly as big as that creature or the earth monsters came around, they'd wake Toph in an instant. He had to do it, as much as he didn't want to, and so he vanished into the darkness, looking over his shoulder.

* * *

The humanoid lizard creature was walking steadily on the road, sniffing out the path which the Avatar and his friends fled in. They had used a very consuming Earthbending Technique, which would leave at least the Avatar, vulnerable. And since he could not enter the Avatar State without certain consequences, it would be the perfect time to strike again. Especially since it was night, and these… mammals were not nocturnal.

The creature arrived at a fork of the road, he read the road sign, though the names of the towns it pointed to meant nothing to it, it sniffed the air once more, sensing several violent aromas up ahead, a group of people, and they were close. He also managed to sense the powerful smell imprinted by the Avatar, it led in the same direction. Confrontation was inevitable, too bad for them.

It was an Earth Army patrol, six men, riding Ostrich-Horses, it walked quietly towards them, wondering how they would react if it did not attack them.

"Uh sir, what is _that_?" One of the men asked the patrol leader, who pulled the reigns on his Ostrich Horse and stopped it immediately, mimicked by his men.

"I have no idea Yung." The leader replied, "Eh, you there! Halt! Can it even understand me?" The human addressed him, how delicious, a chance at more chaos.

The creature did not stop, but rather made to move around the party of Earth soldiers, however the patrol leader made to block its way.

"I said ha- ah!" The leader's exclamation soon became a scream as the creature's arm shot up, inhumanly quickly, sending the Ostrich Horse flying in the air, along with the rider, as suddenly a column of Earth launched itself from the ground. The soldiers immediately sprung into action, three of them expertly jumped off their mounts, sending tremor waves at the creature as they landed. The creature's mouth curled in a contempt filled frown, and its hands were instantly drawn back and sent forwards, sending a massive crescent-shaped shockwave, which spread at the three Earthbenders, and their friends who were also dismounting, completely squashing what the creature considered "basic" tremor waves. The ground in front of the creature was cracked by the intensity of his bending, and the wave decimated everything in its path towards the soldiers, throwing all five of them back and injuring both their legs and their backs as they were tipped over.

They didn't quit however, the farther two, those who had only just gotten off their mounts sprung up to their wounded feet again, raising several massive boulders and hurling them at the creature.

The creature simply advanced towards them, smashing the boulders lazily with its fists as it progressed.

The Earthbenders, getting desperate decided to use another trick, and turned the stretch of land between their fallen comrades and the creature into quicksand. However, to their surprise, the creature simply stood on top it, as though it was solid ground. The duo looked at each other and gulped, and then turned back towards the strange threat. The creature stood there for a moment, then with a spectacular motion, it whirled in a full three hundred and sixty degrees, its hands moving gracefully along, and in a thrusting motion, the pool of quicksand quickly rose against its creators, trapping them unto their necks in the thick earth.

The creature walked off past them, not sparing them a backwards glance as the three injured benders moaned and the other two exchanged frightened stares. A few moments into this, the Ostrich Horse and its rider reappeared, crashing on the soft land made by the quicksand, both rider and mount too dizzy to do anything but lie still.

* * *

Aang had awoken to find Sokka sitting on guard, having removed his jacket sometime earlier. Shang was still asleep, but Toph wasn't in her earth tent. The Avatar crawled out of his shelter and approached the warrior, asking him with a yawn.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I wasn't tired." He replied, not looking at his friends, but rather scanning the horizon.

"Where's Toph?" Aang asked, looking around their camp, with Dai Li in sight.

"I don't know, she said she was going to the bathroom, but that was actually a long time ago." Sokka said, concern obvious in his voice.

"I'll go look for her; she shouldn't wander off by herself when that thing's around." The Avatar assured the tribesman, who nodded, still not letting down his guard.

Aang went off in search of Toph, and Sokka stayed put, but suddenly stood up, seeing the Avatar go away, he went some steps away, and collapsed to his knees, hiding his face with his hands. He was such a failure, such a terrible failure.

* * *

Aang walked quietly along the path he believed Toph had taken, his eyes were closed, and he was sensing, as she once taught him, her vibrations in the earth. He soon found her, sitting slumped on a rock, he couldn't see her face with Earthbending, but he could tell her hands were over it.

As he came closer, he heard faint, muffled sobs. Toph was crying, something Aang had rarely seen in his life. It was alarming to say the least, not to mention worrying.

He approached her slowly, so that she might have the chance to try and hide her tears, if she so wished. But she didn't, for once in her life, she willingly shown weakness, and that frightened Aang more than anything else he had encountered in the last few days.

He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hugging her.

"I can't Twinkle Toes, I just can't… I want to think everything's going to be okay, but if we get through this, it's going to be the same again. My parents kept treating me like I was weak, like I was helpless, and now, it's just the same." She moaned, "He's here to protect me, because he's afraid something might happen to me, but I'm afraid something might happen to him! Especially how that alien tossed him around like he was nothing yesterday... I already lost Yue; I don't want to lose him too…"

"There, there, Toph…" Aang leaned his head against hers and hugged her closer, "I promise you, I won't let anything happen to either of you."

"Aang…" She sniffed, "Please tell me it's going to be okay, just this once, I need someone to say it, because… I, I don't feel that way anymore."

"It's going to be okay Toph; everything is going to be just fine…" The Avatar comforted her, and they sat that way for a long hour, comforting each other, making their worries go away for just that time…


	6. Chapter 6

The first sight which was revealed to Aang and Toph as they returned to camp was a shirtless Sokka stretching around in the camp. That is, the first sight for Aang and vibrations for Toph.

Aang had to admire how the teenager had grown into a well developed man, his muscle mass very visible without his shirt or jacket on. The warrior also seemed to have developed a great deal of ambidexterity, as was seen in his short encounter with the earth monster the day before. Aang also had to admire that in despite, according to what Toph told him, the way the alien had thrown him about , and the numerous rips he saw in the warrior's jacket, Sokka remained unscathed, the Air Nomad could not even spot a scar, or a scrape on the tribesman's body.

"There you are!" The warrior called, ceasing his stretching and approaching the two, Shang as it seemed, was still asleep.

"What took you two so long?" Sokka asked, looking at the two suspiciously, "Where've you been?"

Aang waited for Toph to answer, but when she did not he said evenly, "We've been discussing the whole situation with the aliens." It wasn't _really_ a lie; it was just an inaccurate truth. Either way, Aang was willing to do it for Toph, if she did not want to reveal to Sokka what they were doing, it was her choice, and he was going to support it.

"And..? Any insight?" The warrior asked, moving over to his bag to take out his shirt, Aang glanced at Toph, he couldn't see her eyes under her hat, but her mouth was curled downwards in a frown.

"No." The woman answered solidly, "We just have to keep moving. Would you wake up the sleeping beauty? I know Earthbenders are supposed to be rocklike, but that does _not_ include sleeping like one."

Sokka sighed and went over to Shang, or as he referred to him in his mind, the Weirdo's tent, and pushed the Earthbender's back with his foot, causing the latter to emit an agitated grumble.

"Wake up, we need to get moving." The warrior said, before two unexpected things happened.

The Earth tent instantly buried itself into the ground, accompanied by Shang earth lifting himself into his legs, the action was so rapid and unexpected, that it made Sokka cringe away. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear that the Earthbender was awake the whole time.

"A fresh new day, full of fresh new adventures!" Shang exclaimed happily, running in place, or rather, running forwards and bending the ground he was on to move backwards. "Let's go!" He said excitedly.

Sokka's eyebrow quirked, still in his cringing pose, "O-kay…"

But in front of the warrior's eyes Shang suddenly entered a bending stance, concentration etched on his face, Aang and Toph did the same behind him, the movement causing him to turn his head.

"How'd it get here so fast?" Was the tribesman's only call, as the alien creature appeared in front of them, as if it just popped out of the ground. Which Sokka had to remind himself was possible, since it was an Earthbender.

The creature surveyed the group, they were not going to get a break so long as it was chasing them, that much was obvious. They had to get rid of it once and for all.

Toph took a step forwards, holding nothing back, she stomped the ground angrily, so much so that it cracked around her foot, which Aang noticed for the first time was encased with an earth-made shoe, she quickly jabbed upwards with her fist, sending a high shockwave at the creature, causing the ground to tremble slightly as she did so.

Aang had also made his move, quickly following Toph, and ignoring Shang's boulders whistling next to his ear, he quickly spun in place, sinking into the ground swiftly until he was fully submerged and then shooting himself high into the air, along with a massive piece of earth, shaped into a sturdy boulder, which the Avatar hurled at his opponent.

The creature had also spun in place, landing its left leg far in front of it as it was facing the group again, so that it was stretched completely forwards, and it slid him into a low stance, altogether sending an equally powered shockwave to halt Toph's and avoiding both of Shang's boulders, which sailed right above its head. Then it spun again, moving forwards and thrusting his arm up in the air, a pillar shot out of the ground with the sudden speed of a hurricane, knocking Aang painfully out of the air as the two shockwave impacted, raising a vast amount of dirt into the air and hiding the creature from view.

The creature, who had left out the boulder then straightened up, the screen of dirt however, hid what he did from Shang's eyes, and the Avatar had just crashed painfully into the ground he had just cushioned, but Toph could sense the vibrations passing through the creature, as it struck the boulder down with two sets of retractable claws, very big and very lethal retractable claws.

The creature, after retracting its claws, cleared the screen of dirt, only to find himself charged by Sokka, who had apparently used the distractions to sneak into the blinding cloud, and before it could react, the warrior was upon it, landing the dull side of his machete on the creature's side with force, as he twisted in place, also sending a backwards kick into the creature's abdomen, possibly causing his foot more damage than the creature, who seemed to have only barely felt the blow.

The tribesman only just dodged the creature's retaliation strike, having to lean backwards in a ninety degree angle to dodge the straight fist, then following up with a backwards flip, grabbing the alien's outstretched hand with his legs and twisting it as far as possible, not enough to break it, due to the heavy muscles, but enough to make it hurt, bad. Then the warrior completed the back-flip, landing nimbly on his feet.

"Wow Sokka, I never knew you were so agile," Toph stated in astonishment, "now if only you were like that in…" She started, but was quickly cut across by Aang, who raised his finger out of the small crater he had formed to emphasize the point.

"Don't want to hear it!"

Sokka wisely retreated backwards, not taking his eyes off the creature, as Toph sent a massive landslide at the creature, both then collected Aang and retreated on another earth wave, Shang bending his own alongside them.

As the earth wave finally diminished, the creature was still standing, in exactly the same spot as though the landslide had never been conjured, they got away again. It had expected them to try and fight seriously this time. The non-bender certainly took it off guard, but it would be the last time.

Already using up a significant amount of power catching up to them; since walking had not closed even half of the gap between the place of their last fight and this one, without mentioning the occasional Earth Army patrols delaying him. The alien didn't think it would be wise to continue chasing them at exactly this point. It stomped the ground angrily, causing it to crack all around it, creating deep slits in the earth. Growling in frustration as it did so.

* * *

Aang had to take over bending the group's earth transport, as Toph was holding on to her husband lovingly.

"How awesome were you?" She asked, her head pressed hard against the warrior's chest.

"Yeah Sokka," Aang said, and suddenly a cry came from nearby,

"Sokka! So I _did_ hear about you!"

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" The monk asked, looking back at Sokka as he spoke.

"Oh that?" The warrior said smugly, "I learned that from Ty Lee years ago, when I went to study regional Fire Nation fighting styles." He said mock-humbly, obviously very pleased with himself, "Sure showed him, huh?"

"Actually, he didn't seem that fazed to me," Shang intruded, but Toph cuddled even closer to her husband and whispered, almost uncharacteristically without sarcasm in her mate's ear,

"Eh, what does he know?"

After a while of this method of transportation, Aang stopped.

"Okay, I think it's safe to walk now," he said, "that thing used underground travel, which means it probably used up a lot of power."

"Yeah, that's why it didn't chase us," Toph expanded, so Sokka would understand, and Shang nodded.

"There should be a village up ahead," The male Earthbender pointed out, "I think we should start looking for ways to get that thing off our tail."

"Like what?" The female Earthbender asked, interested.

"Well, it can't know where we're going, and I guess it doesn't understand our language, right?" Shang theorized, "So, it must be tracking us either by smell, or by the trail our Earth Wave makes, which it doesn't, not for enough time for him to follow it. Get what I'm saying?"

"Are you implying that we need a shower?" Sokka asked, smelling his armpits and shrugging.

"Well, that too, but I'm more suggesting that we disguise our odor, like put on some perfume, or something. If that doesn't work, then I guess we can always run away again." The Earthbender replied sagely.

"I guess, but I don't know how much times it's going to just let us escape like that." Aang let out darkly, all looked at him, something was really bothering the Airbender, that much was obvious, whether it was this strange quest they were sent on, they did not know.

"Ugh, perfume," Toph groaned, "My parents used to make me put that stuff on all the time, disgusting." She pouted.

"Yeah, only girls wear perfume." Sokka protested, crossing his arms on his chest and looking dejectedly at Shang.

"Then you give us an idea, oh mighty warrior." Shang replied heatedly, narrowing his eyes at the tribesman.

"Okay girls, break it up…" Toph moved in between them, taking off her Dai Li hat and letting the sun shine on her face for once.

"Actually, Shang's right Sokka, don't you remember when that Shirshu was after us? How we used the perfume to confuse it?" Aang asked, causing the warrior to moan.

"Fine, whatever," The warrior looked away from the group intently, continuing down the road.

"Um, Aang, you mind hanging back a bit? I want a word with you, if I can." Toph asked, as Shang and Sokka were drawing away from them.

"Sure Toph, what is it?" The monk asked, taking a few steps closer to the woman.

"Look, do you honestly want to tell me that Shang is not suspicious?" She asked, "With all of his muttering and volunteering?"

Aang shifted his feet uncomfortably, "Yeah, well, I'm sure other people would volunteer, given the chance, I hope, and uh," He wondered how to phrase what he wanted to say for a moment, before speaking, "Well, I think he's just scared, hence the strange muttering."

"Yeah, and I'm Appa the Flying Bison." Toph answered flatly.

"You have nothing to worry about Toph, what can he possibly do against the Avatar, the world's most powerful Earthbender, and most skilled warrior?"

"Kill us in our sleep?" She asked, mock cheerily.

"I don't think so, but if you're worried, we can keep watch." Aang suggested.

"I'm not worried, there's just something about him I can't put a finger on. He seems very familiar." The Dai Li woman said, and the two kept on their pacing as she pondered.

* * *

A person was standing over his desk; leaning on his hands heavily. He was unusually tall and wiry, with a very powerful and tremendous build. He was wearing the traditional clothing for Earth Kingdom officers, save for the hat. His short cropped hair was very tidy and meticulous, as was he. Major Massacre, his troops called him, though he was known before by many names, Private Pain, Sergeant Slaughter, Lieutenant Laceration and Commander Carnage, as he was widely known as the most demanding, uncompromising officer in the Earth Kingdom's army, back in the war, as a mere recruit he has shown outstanding leadership abilities, inspiring the troops around him to get to their maximum, apparently at the cost of their free will, not that it mattered, he always said, soldiers aren't supposed to have free will. The men under him today were thoughtless, disciplined, well oiled, war machines.

His was the infamous Gaia Garrison, the elite of the elite, far surpassing the Terra Team of Ba Sing Se, and the Land Legion in the southern Earth Kingdom. Every man was handpicked, drilled until their spirit was broken, and trained so that every action came instinctively. His lieutenants of course, were more independent, having to actually think on the battlefield, but for them, it was pre-made battle plans, for almost every situation possible. Unfortunately, an encounter with an extremely powerful alien Earthbender was not included in them. And seeing as the alien had already knocked out three of his patrols on his rampage, the Major had to be informed, to the displeasure of his underlings.

"What do you mean an alien!" The Major barked, it was not a question, it was a command.

"Sir, I mean a giant lizard that Earthbends sir." The lieutenant responded quickly.

The Major's dark green eyes glinted in rage, he did not know what he was facing, and had no reliable information about the creature's power, the Major was furious. He never feared the unknown, he was always too angry at himself and his men for not knowing what the unknown was to be afraid of it. His rough features, seemingly chiseled out of rock, were contorted in anger, and as always when angry, the Major rubbed the long scar coming down from his cheek to his throat, as an ill-fated Fire Nation soldier tried to take him down.

"Summon the rest of the Gaia Garrison, I want Liu Shin to take twenty men and chase that creature, tell them not to attack first, and if possible, try to make it talk." The man in charge said, rising up to his full, daunting height.

"Sir yes sir!" The Lieutenant bowed and left the room with haste, leaving the Major to himself.

The giant man continued rubbing his scar, enjoying the feel of the gentle tissue on his rough finger, the alien needed to be stopped. He could not stand this shame on the Gaia Garrison, if it came down to it, he would face the creature himself.

* * *

"I smell so… girly!" Sokka moaned, sniffing himself, as Aang was busy acquiring more perfume for himself and Shang. Toph didn't seem to be enjoying the idea much either.

"Ugh, this stinks, literally." She muttered agitatedly, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground, causing a small stone near her to hop slightly in the air every time.

"We hardly have a choice," Shang said, receiving his perfume from Aang and applying it heavily, "But we have to do it to mask our scent. But just in case that thing picks up on our plan, I think we should try and get to a river to wash off our scent and confuse it."

"Oh come on, what else should we do, backtrack now and then to confuse it?" Sokka called over to the Earthbender, who seemed stricken for a moment before speaking.

"Actually that's a good idea…"

"This is a waste of time, I say we get to the Eastern Air Temple as fast as we can, he can't follow us if we're in the air." The warrior argued, standing in front of Aang with a look of great displeasure.

"That is, if you even get there…." Shang muttered ominously, and everyone once more stared at him, he slapped himself in the forehead when he realized what had happened.

"Okay Shang," Toph said irritably, "I'm all for accepting people with disabilities, but disability or not, your thoughts are getting on my nerves." Shang looked at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"I'm only being realistic, Ms. Bei Fong." He said simply.

"Don't do it next to me. In all due respect for "saving" my life, hearing you say something menacing every five minutes is not something I call fun. So if I hear something like that one more time, you're out of here." The raven haired woman warned.

"Oh fine, excuse me for wanting to help you! And excuse me for not being able to keep my thoughts down, what with it scaring you and all. And I thought you of all people could accept other people's disabilities." Shang called heatedly, turning some heads in their direction. Not that heads were not turned towards them as it was, being a very strange party of a Dai Li, Water Tribesman and an Airbender.

"Don't make this about disabilities, I don't care if you can't keep your thoughts down, but when you think stuff like," And then the woman imitated Shang's gruff muttering in a comically exaggerated style, "Yes, be happy, you're going to die soon," Shang's features contorted in rage at this imitation, "then yeah, I have a problem with that."

"Okay calm down both of you," Aang intervened, stepping between the two, "This is not the time for us to fight, Toph I can see how Shang's problem bothers you, but his thoughts are his own, and you have no right to criticize them. You have to think of it from his perspective, he's concerned." The mediator said, looking at Toph, behind of whom, her husband seemed very pleased with himself.

Toph let out a long sigh, "You're right Aang. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I'm just a bit on edge, earth monsters and aliens chasing us and all." The woman said softly, but several stander bys gasped, and a loud buzz of muttering began, as the identity of the strange group had finally sunk into the mind of the people.

"So, yeah, I'm not really good at these…" Toph scratched her head under her hat, Shang still seemed very unsettled, not disappointed as one would think, but rather, angry and insulted.

"It's okay." The Earthbender finally said gruffly, although he obviously was not calmed down yet. Aang admired his level headedness at this time, even though his voice was radiating terrible coldness.

"We should go then, we need to hurry." The Air Nomad spoke warmly at his group of volunteers, two of which never had to join and risk their life in the first place, and even more friends awaited him, friends that would accompany him, once more, on his quest to keep balance in the world.

The group took a long look at the pastoral village they were in, the neat pebble roads now packed with people trying to glimpse at the Avatar, pairs of eyes peeking out through various windows on the small cottages lining the roads, people stretching as far as they could over the market stalls flanking the square they were all standing in to have a better look, children pointing and tugging on their parent's sleeves excitedly, without realized that their elders were too, transfixed.

This peace would be sorely missed in the days to come, they knew, and they made their way to the exit, to the Eastern Air Temple…

* * *

Author's notes:

I made small fixes and added a part I forgot about, anyway, all fixed now!


	7. Chapter 7

The sun was high in the heavens, sending it's warming glow over the astonishingly green grass, as the wind blew gently, causing ripples in the green texture, like the warm love of a mother, and her caressing touch, such was the this planet. So different from what the reptilian creature had known. It was as if he had passed through an opposite reflection.

The earth was pristine, untainted by the many ores, minerals and metals which were all too common in the alien's world, making it so much easier to bend. The sky was so bright, unlike the dark, almost completely sunless canvas which was his own. So bright it was that the creature was just less than blind, but only just, not that being blind has ever been a drawback for it.

It took a deep breath, taking in the captivating odors of nature, and it listened to the majestic sounds of natural beauty, as it was standing. This ever so peaceful place did much to soothe it and calm it after its recent failures.

Suddenly, a flashback came to the creature, though the terrain seemed the same, the scenery was entirely different. The sky, rather than being a brilliant cyan in color, were instead a mixture of blue and purple, at the high noon of day, instead of grass, there were sharp jagged rocks strewn about, ores and mineral deposits emerging haphazardly from the ground. The wind was howling with monstrous rage and the dust and rust mixture from the iron fields to the south was blowing around the creature.

So different.

It let out a long, sad, sigh. It is a shame that the pure charm of this peaceful planet will soon be replaced by the savagery of chaos. For the creature, there was no other option, no failure. It turned away from the beautiful view, and walked away from it softly, taking care to not disturb this oasis of serenity.

* * *

The sight of ruin that was revealed to the Avatar's party was all too familiar for Aang, the site of his failure against the first alien, the non-bending one. Most of the houses and cabins have collapsed in the time past, the burned wood no longer being able to hold its own weight. Others were half wrecked, missing entire chunks, or charcoal black from the blazing heat.

The sun was conveniently hidden behind a cluster of clouds, as though the fiery orb itself could hardly bare to look at the devastation. To Aang's relief there was no blood, no bodies. Yet in the pit of his stomach he was completely wary, for the non bending alien might still be around to ambush them., so when Toph put her hand on his shoulder gently he started, jumping in surprise.

He looked at her sadly, and though she could not see his face, she could still see into his heart, into his thoughts, in the way that only a true, friend in soul can. "There was nothing you could do." She said, whereas once she would simply prompt him to get over it, apparently the loss of her child has greatly diminished that attitude, and suddenly Aang had a rush of mixed emotions passing through him. One was an immense emotion of gratitude towards the Dai Li; there were also disappointment in himself, and shame at his retreat, and sadness at his failure. But he had also had a sad feeling completely unrelated to this situation. He was missing Katara, and Toph's behavior just then reminded him of her.

But it was stupid, he was going to see her again soon, he would have to, because Roku told him to. After all, she is the most powerful Waterbender in the world, even surpassing Master Pakku in her abilities. He lowered his head, it wouldn't be the same, and it never will be.

Toph remained silent, but her hand was still on his shoulder, supporting him as he supported her, not having to speak, but to just be there with him, to touch him and let him know that she is there.

"Ugh, these aliens are getting on my nerves." Sokka said agitatedly, "Look at this place, it's too small to really have guards, there would hardly be any resistance here." Shang, standing next to him agreed heartily. "He's right, they didn't do it for the carnage value, they were trying to catch your attention, I think." He said to Aang, and Sokka nodded.

Aang looked up as Shang ceased talking, snapping out of his deep thoughts, trying to fit them into the very back of his mind. "I hope so… At least we're closer to the Eastern Air Temple. If we keep on this road, there's supposed to be a town a while ahead." Aang pointed out, remembering seeing it as he flew here from the Air Temple, "But stay on your toes, that alien might still be around here."

"I don't feel anything near here," Toph announced, then she stomped hard on the ground, to check on a wider radius, her vibrations acting as a sonar for her. "No, nothing."

"I suggest we take a stop for a couple of hours." Shang offered, "We don't know when the next time we'll encounter an alien will be, and since we've been moving on Earth Waves ever since we left the last village, I think we need it." Toph nodded in agreement, being the one who conjured most of the Earth Waves, as it was far more useful to have Aang free in case of an attack than her.

"Okay, I guess we could stop for a few hours," Aang agreed reluctantly, looking over to Sokka for his opinion, only to find Sokka napping contentedly in the sun, not having slept at all the previous night. "I guess that settles it." The monk said submissively sitting himself on the ground, attempting to meditate.

"I think I'm going to rest for a while too, or I can keep watch if you're tired." Shang conversed with Toph, his anger towards her seemingly gone. The woman however, shook her head and smiled, "I'm not that tired, but I think I might take a walk, I don't feel like sitting around doing nothing. I'll be around though, so you can go rest." Shang nodded, stretching slightly and settling down, bending some earth into a square shape, to act as a makeshift pillow. Since he did not want to burden Toph by forcing her to bend a bigger Earth Wave, he would make his own and ride behind hers, so that if the alien came, he would be hit first, giving the Avatar's group more time to prepare their defensive. This of course, took much energy out of him.

Toph left without another word, disappearing between the burned down cabins, leaving the group alone for their rest.

* * *

A little girl, probably aged at nine, was standing alone in the middle of the road. She was wearing tattered green clothes, and holding a ragged bunny shaped doll in her hand. She was crying and screaming for her parents, and help. She might attract guards there, and if they discovered the alien hidden amongst the nearby bushes, they would be sure to attack it and stall it even longer.

It stepped with its foot quietly; feeling the vibrations in the immediate vicinity, determining that there were no guards around yet, but it couldn't risk that any guards might come by and find it. The girl had to be taken care of. It stepped out of the bushes and unto the road, walking towards the young girl with gigantic strides. The girl stopped crying and looked at it, then gave out a shrill cry of terror.

"Monster!" She screamed, cowering before the towering creature, which looked at her through bright green, snake-like eyes unclearly.

Meanwhile, nearby a lone farmer was heading towards his home some distance down the same road, some distance past where the creature and the girl were standing. When he saw the alien his first instinct was to cry out, or to rush in and grab the girl, but he realized that if this was the rumored alien chasing the Avatar, then he would be dead. So he simply stood, staring in fear as the creature bended a piece of rock in the air above the girl. But that was all he could bare to see, for a moment later he ran away, praying that the Gaia Garrison would still be able to save the girl, and praying that the spirits would forgive him for his cowardice.

* * *

By the time Toph had returned, it was early in the evening, slightly past twilight. The sky had been colored in a magnificent, deep, mauve, with tiny flecks of white and a semi-apparent moon. Soon the sun would be gone completely, and the moon will be completely clear past the unlit curtain of light.

The woman had arrived to find the entire group asleep, the Earthbender resting on his stony pillow, the warrior sleeping on his side, with his head resting on his hand, the Avatar using the tribesman's feet as a pillow as he too, fell asleep during his meditation. The woman had not realized her walk had taken so long. She was indeed circling the small village, but she had done so absent mindedly, and probably a number of times bordering a number with three figures. She was lucky the creature had not caught up to them in the meanwhile.

"Wake up blockheads." She called, causing all three males to awake with a start, Sokka and Aang looked at each other briefly, Sokka noticing that Aang was holding his legs out of sleep, and so did Aang, apparently, as both suddenly drew away from each other, looking in opposite directions.

"I think it's time we get moving," The woman said, grinning, "We should stop in the next town for some supplies." Shang yawned contentedly, stretching as he did so. "Seconded," He agreed, and Aang nodded. It was not long until the four packed up and were on their way again, Sokka and Aang on Toph's Earth Wave, and Shang riding behind her, on his own.

The ride until their next stop was quite peaceful; in fact, they have not encountered a single soul on their route, neither was there any sign of any of the aliens. It appeared fortune finally favored them. It appeared.

As the two Earthbenders diminished their Earth Waves, and the group began the short walk towards the town, they noticed the two guards flanking the gate staring at them strangely, and one ran inside. "Ugh, I hope they're not planning to honor you with an award or something," Said Sokka, "We really don't have time for it."

But when the guard came back, it was not with an honor guard, but with a large group of Earth Soldiers, the skeleton crew left behind as the Gaia Garrison was recalled to deal with the alien threat. In an instant, the group was surrounded.

"What's going on?" Aang asked, looking at the hostile Earth Soldiers encircling them, fierce determination in their eyes. The Lieutenant in charge entered the circle cautiously and declared haughtily, "Toph Bei Fong is to be placed under arrest, any attempt to resist such an arrest by her, or to assist her in doing so will be considered a hostile act and obstruction to justice."

"What are you talking about? What do you want to arrest her for?" Sokka spoke up, managing to precede Toph in doing so. The Lieutenant looked at him in contempt and took a scroll from his second, entering the circle behind him.

"On one account of first degree member of an upstanding Earth Kingdom citizen, Toph Bei Fong, Female, Black Hair, Green Eyes, Dai Li uniform, is to be arrested and taken unto trial, by order of the High Law of The Earth Kingdom."

"What? I didn't kill anybody!" The accused protested heatedly, to which Aang had agreed heartily, "She couldn't have, she was with us the whole time!"

"Actually," Shang said, looking at Toph fearfully, though she could not see it, and all eyes turned on him, "When we were sleeping in that village, she wasn't with us." Toph turned towards him, the apparent panic in his voice doing nothing to calm her, "I didn't kill anyone Shang! How can they prove it?"

"We have at least ten witnesses who saw you do it." The Lieutenant replied skeptically, one eyebrow raised. "They claim to have seen a female with green eyes and black hair…"

"Come on! I'm not the only female Earthbender with black hair!" Toph intercepted the Lieutenant.

"… Wearing a Dai Li uniform…" The Lieutenant continued past her interruption.

"And I'm not the only female Dai Li either!" Toph argued.

"Bending a metal lump into a lethal weapon, and striking the victim with it," The Lieutenant finished, and the group sounded a collective gasp. Perhaps there were more women in the Dai Li, and perhaps some had black hair and green eyes, but none of them could Metal Bend. Aang turned to Toph in disbelief, and so did Sokka, Shang seemed even more anxious than before, and stared at her blankly.

"I didn't do it, why would I? There's no motive!" Toph yelled, her voice sounding more and more panicked as the charges against her seemed more real.

"The victim was an organizer of illegal Earthbending tournaments, and witnesses claim you yelled at him for not allowing you to participate in them. You argued, and then struck him down." The Lieutenant read from the scroll.

"That's a load of Badger-mole droppings!" This time it was Shang who stood up for the Dai Li, "Toph isn't a murderer." Sokka and Aang agreed fiercely, and the Lieutenant shrugged, "That will be decided by the court."

"We don't have time for this! The world is in danger!" Aang said urgently, "We can't stay, and I need her!"

"There is always time for the law!" The Lieutenant bellowed harshly, "Take her in!" The guards rushed at Toph, Sokka and Shang moved to defend her, but she held them back. "Don't, I'll need you to prove I didn't do it." The two looked at each other, and then at Aang, who simply hung his head.

"What choice do we have?" He asked no one in particular.

* * *

The creature walked slowly down the road, its head hung low, observing every detail of the earth beneath it. Admiring the pureness of it, basking in the simplicity of it, so when that simplicity was suddenly disturbed, it had instantly entered a stance.

It was facing a large group of benders, wearing the green uniforms that he learned to recognize as army uniforms. So they finally put up a notable resistance. But it had no time for this, not now. It had to catch up to the Avatar.

"My name is Liu Shin, a lieutenant of the Gaia Garrison." A man riding an ostrich horse introduced himself, moving forwards from the crowd of Earthbenders. He stared at the alien in expectation, hoping it understood him.

"Out of the way," The alien replied, taking a step forwards. The Lieutenant looked at it in shock, "You speak our language!" He called in surprise.

"Out of the way." The creature said again, this time more finality in its voice, and it continued its approach. The Lieutenant seemed unfazed, he rubbed his short black beard, and tipped his hat slightly, "Why have you been attacking our patrols?" He asked.

"They were in my way, as you are. I have no time for this, out of the way; this is your last warning." The creature growled, drawing itself to its full, impressive height, causing several of the benders to gasp in awe. The Lieutenant seemed visibly nervous, but it did not show as he spoke, "We have orders to detain you." But the creature did not listen, it started a jog forwards.

The soldiers behind the lieutenant instantly stomped the ground as one, raising boulders up in the air and launching them at the creature. Who in turn raised its hands, lifting a pillar of earth underneath it. The soldiers did the same, each lifting himself upwards with an earth pillar. The alien continued its run forwards, leaping in the air past the pillar, as another one rose beneath it. The alien quickly jumped sideways to avoid another volley of boulders, and another pillar appeared there to support it. From that pillar he jumped unto an oncoming boulder, using it as a temporary rest for its feet and then jumping unto another boulder, the momentum of the rock moving him slightly backwards, yet the creature's amazing speed made it so it was still progressing.

From that boulder the creature leaped at another pillar, and from the pillar, it launched itself at one of the twenty pillars supporting the Earthbenders, landing in front of the soldier, and with a hip kick knocking said soldier down from the pillar, then smashing another oncoming boulder with its fist, dropping his other hand down and raising it up as it did so, causing the pillar of the nearest Earthbender to suddenly drop beneath it, and as he fell through the air, rise up and slam into him, throwing him high in the air and out of the fight. The alien jumped to that pillar, continuing its progress, as another volley of boulders shot at it, with a quick spin and a flash of retractable claws the projectiles were destroyed, and with thrusting motion, all of the remaining pillars toppled over, knocking the Earthbenders of the Gaia Garrison off them as they collapsed, all but a single, straight row of three pillars.

The alien once more jumped towards the nearest pillar, but this time, he aimed lower, removing the topmost part of the pillar with a powerful kick at the middle of said pillar, throwing off the Earthbender on top of it and then riding the collapsing earth for a moment before jumping high unto the surface of the next pillar, where the Earthbender had attempted to strike it. Despite its large size, and the lack of space to maneuver in, the creature managed to dodge the blow perfectly, letting pass to its side and using the Earthbender's momentum against him, throwing off the pillar. The alien continued its jog and leaped over to the last pillar, where the last standing Earthbender attempted to strike him with some earth-made club, to no avail as the creature merely grabbed and crushed the weapon into fine dust, then stomping on the pillar, causing the part the Earthbender was on to break off and crash to the ground.

As that was done, the creature jumped down with a remarkable somersault, landing on a high Earth Wave and riding away from the fallen group, of which only the Lieutenant was still standing, or rather sitting, on his ostrich horse. Liu Shin's eyes narrowed and he reprimanded himself at heart for this failure. The major would have to be informed.

The creature sped as fast as it could, it couldn't afford to lose the Avatar's trail, and it couldn't afford to hold back anymore. Next time it would face the Avatar it had to complete its mission. The Earth Wave sped twice as fast as these thoughts ran through the alien's head, speeding past blurs that were the landscape it had come to admire.

The dust trail behind it made it easy to follow its direction, if it only knew the Avatar's direction…

* * *

"Do you know how ridiculous these charges are?" Toph asked the Lieutenant, as he set down to interrogate her; her hands were cuffed behind her back, in wooden shackles. The Lieutenant scowled at her, "I can't stand you celebrities, always walking around like you own the place."

"Celebrity?" Toph shrieked, "What am I, some singing wench?" The Lieutenant ignored her completely, "You people are always busy being famous, where were you in the war?"

"I was with the Avatar, helping to end it!" Toph shouted, infuriated at the man's insolence. The Lieutenant seemed stricken for a moment, "Oh, right." He muttered, "But even a war hero is not above the law!"

Toph leaned forward and protested angrily, "I'm a Dai Li agent! I'm as much a law enforcer as you are!"

"He's not even a law enforcer." Another man said, dressed in green uniforms, "He's just in charge because of the alert placed by the Gaia Garrison, because of the Alien attacks." The man continued, he was young, perhaps younger than Toph herself. "And he's not supposed to be doing my job," He addressed the Lieutenant harshly, "Get out."

The Lieutenant rose from the table and left with an evil smirk at Toph, which she couldn't see, and the other man slammed the door behind him. "I'm sorry for that, those Gaia Garrison jerks are all like their commander. Major Massacre they call him, freaks."

"I didn't kill anyone." Toph stated crossly, and to her surprise, the man nodded and leaned back on his chair, visibly uncomfortable. He tapped his fingers on the desk between himself and the woman, as though trying to decide something of great importance.

"You have a lot on your mind right now, don't you?" He asked softly, his intention unclear.

"More than you think." Toph responded coolly, for some strange reason, she also began to feel uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. The man nodded, and said, "I can't let you go, as much as I want to, I can't."

Toph sighed in great dissatisfaction, clenching her fist tightly, "I need to get to the Eastern Air Temple with the Avatar, mister," Toph said harshly, "Captain," The man corrected her. She continued, "The fate of the world depends on it." The man shifted awkwardly, "I still can't let you go, the Lieutenant won't let me. We… you'll have to see this thing through. I'll give your friends full access to the crime scene and witnesses. But I don't want to regret this, don't fail me, Toph."

* * *

Author Notes: Don't worry people, we're one chapter away from the Air Temple, so don't get impatient! Reviews are still welcome, so don't be shy people – criticize!

Cursor


	8. Chapter 8 A

Chapter 8 (A)

The unusually tall and wiry, black haired man known as Major Massacre was sitting restlessly behind his desk, observing the collection of weapons on the opposite walls, on both sides of the door to his office. As of yet there were no news from Liu Shin's squadron, but the Major had already doomed this mission in his mind. Liu Shin wasn't an exceptional Earthbender, but he was an excellent negotiator, when given the chance. If Liu Shin had not been able to communicate with the alien, then there was no chance he would be able to stop him. Hence the twenty-men backup, though the Major suspected that even that would not do.

The experienced Major's suspicions appeared true, as an upset Liu Shin entered his chamber, bearing ill news.

"Twenty Earthbender Elites defeated, and the creature didn't even fight." The Lieutenant told through gritted teeth. "It's extremely clever, a highly experienced Earthbender with a strategic mind and obvious military practice. Ruthless too, a farmer told us it killed a little girl."

The Major surveyed his unscathed Lieutenant through cold and critical eyes, "Is the Gaia Garrison back yet?" He asked, pulling out a map from a drawer in his stone desk, bending it to open.

"No sir, not yet," Liu Shin replied, wondering what his superior was up to.

"Tell them to meet me here." The Major ordered, pointing at a crossroads near an Earth Kingdom village, "The Avatar passed through here recently, and I'll bet my arms that thing will too." Then the gargantuan man stood up, and the Lieutenant backed down slightly, in awe.

"Sir, if twenty Earthbenders couldn't beat it, you alone surely…" He began, his tone respectful, yet concerned. He shut up however when he saw the cold smile playing on the Major's lips, or what was left of them after countless battles anyway.

"But I'm not going alone," The major said dramatically, "I'm taking Gaia." Now the Lieutenant smirked as well, fully understanding his superior's plan…

* * *

"I can't believe it! Stupid Earthbenders, can't you just order them to let her go or something?" Sokka asked agitatedly, pacing around the dull rectangular entrance room to the guard headquarters. "Every moment spent here, is another moment in which that lizard can catch up to us." 

"I know Sokka, calm down; everything's going to be alright. I can force them to free Toph, but I can't order them, we just have to sort this out." Aang said soothingly, attempting to calm his upset friend down.

"You don't want your wife to have the reputation of a murderer do you?" Shang asked, leaning against the wall farthest from the two in a casual manner, yet seeming as agitated as the Tribesman was.

"Of course I don't! But I don't want her killed by that stupid reptile either!" The warrior replied heatedly, now pacing in circles around the room, causing Shang much distress.

"Look Sokka, the alien's only advantage is that we won't fight it. Because otherwise, between the three of us, we could have taken it down. Even without the Avatar State, I could just drop a mountain over its head, and Toph could as well, if we weren't so busy trying to avoid it. Not to mention what the three of us could do together." Aang declared confidently, though silently reminding himself that they have yet to see the full power of the creature as well.

Sokka continued his frantic pacing, grumbling unintelligibly. From time to time Shang, who was the only one listening, could make out single words of Sokka's torrent, mostly being, "Dumb, stupid, Earthbenders, alien…"

Shang rolled his eyes and tapped his foot on the floor, sending a small disturbance in the stone, almost invisible, which, when reaching Sokka, quickly turned into a small sinkhole, capturing the latter's foot.

"What was that for?" The warrior asked, giving Shang an irritated glance before tugging at his foot fruitlessly.

"Your pacing is driving me crazy, and waiting for the escort to take us to the crime scene isn't too comfortable either to begin with." Shang answered bluntly, straightening up and taking a seat next to Aang, who was meditating once more.

"What're they interrogating her for anyway? I mean, it's not like she'll tell them if she's guilty!" Sokka flapped his arms in frustration, after failing to pull his foot out of the sinkhole, "Not that I'm saying she is, because she's not! Nope, not my Toph, definitely not," Sokka said, nodding at his own statement.

"Yes, I'm definitely not _your_ Toph, I'm my own Toph." The Dai Li said, emerging through the door with the unnamed Captain, Sokka noticed she was wearing no cuffs whatsoever.

"No point," Said the Captain, noticing Sokka's wonder, "She could just bend them anyway, which is the same reason there's no point in keeping her in a jail cell."

"So can we get to the crime scene already? We're in a real hurry." Shang asked, frowning over having to stand up right after sitting down.

"Yes, yes." The Captain said, "But a warning to you, we've documented everything in the crime scene, any tampering with it will be considered as obstruction to justice, and you'll all be arrested." The group looked at him in displeasure, hardly believing the captain would accuse three war heroes, including the Avatar, in obstruction to justice. The Captain seemed well aware of this, as he then said, "Those are the orders that stuck up Lieutenant gave me. He outranks me in an emergency, so I hardly have a choice."

"I think our time would be best spent if we split up, one of us should go over and question the witnesses, and another should go to the crime scene." Shang suggested shrewdly, once more revealing his insight.

"Good idea, I'll take the crime scene," Sokka agreed, "After Chin Village, this should be a walk in the park." The warrior smiled smugly.

"Uh, you do remember they found me guilty right?" Aang asked, and Sokka's smile instantly disappeared, and he seemed quite embarrassed, it appeared he had indeed forgotten that tiny little part.

"Anyway," The Avatar said, "I think I should hang around here and keep Toph some company, wouldn't want to leave her all alone, would I?"

"Whatever, come on Shang, let's get going." Sokka said, and headed for the door, and crashing head-first into the stone floor, as he forgot one of his feet was still trapped in a sinkhole.

"You did that on purpose." The tribesman accused Shang lethally, and the Earthbender merely shrugged and grinned smugly.

"No, it was just a fortunate coincidence. I mean unfortunate coincidence… "Then he grumbled to himself silently, "Of all times…" As the room erupted into laughter, all but the captain, who kept a respectful silence through this occurrence, Sokka's eyebrow quirked and with began tugging frantically on his foot.

Toph, though laughing hysterically at her husband's futile efforts, couldn't bear to leave him like that, so she bended the sinkhole to free his leg, however, seeing as Sokka was pulling on his leg frantically, that achieved even more hilarious results, as when suddenly his foot was free from the sinkhole, he was knocked backwards by the force he used to pull it, and once more, unto the floor.

He growled at Toph, completely red in the face, and stepped out quickly, followed by a snickering Shang, just barely holding himself from bursting out laughing, and the captain who was rolling his eyes as though thinking, _"What have I gotten myself into?"_

"Well, I'm going." Aang said, a few moments after the three left, getting up and approaching the exit, "I just don't think I'd have been able to make any progress between those two, I'll be back soon." Toph turned her head towards him casually.

"Aang," She asked uncertainly, "Is there anything about that Captain which seems, I don't know, odd?"

Aang stopped and rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, "I don't really know, he looks like every other Earthbender I've seen. Why?"

"I just get the feeling that I know him from somewhere…" Toph said, and then lowered her head ponderingly. Aang shrugged, and left with a short goodbye, off to make his own investigation.

* * *

"So what exactly happened here?" Sokka asked, looking around as the Captain led him to the crime scene, a wide street, on one side was a small square, and on the other side, past the cobbled road, were various shops and a tea house. The crime scene was in the small square, and was clearly marked with Earthbending, and guards stood around it, prohibiting civilians from passing. 

"Here it is, just blood on the floor, the metal weapon, and the body. And before you ask, yes, we checked the body." The Captain said, "No unusual findings." Sokka examined the floor of the square, where the imprint of a laying man indicated the position and place of the body.

"Let me see the weapon." Sokka commanded, sparing a glance to Shang, who was in the meanwhile moving towards the group of witnesses, standing nearby with several Earthbender guards. The Captain passed through too the crime scene and indicated that the warrior should do the same.

Sokka followed the man through and crouched down near the weapon, feeling it and observing it carefully. It was bent by force, most probably a bending force, into a sharp pick, there was nothing remarkable about it, other than there seemed to be no imprints of fingers on it.

Shang in the meanwhile, was busy conversing to one of the witnesses, and Sokka had half a mind to ask him something. But didn't. "Well, the murder wasn't an act of passion, it was planned out completely." He told the Captain, who had felt terribly like replying "No! Really?" But instead simply nodded.

"Any Earthbender could have killed the man much more easily by crushing him under a rock, or burying him in the ground, why use metal bending?" Sokka asked no one in particular, "It's an obvious frame up."

"Toph was strangely missing her spare Dai Li robes, suspicious, but it could be that an Earthbender stole it. But you're going to have to prove it beyond reasonable doubt." The Captain said, and Sokka raised an eyebrow at him calling Toph by her name, which is hardly the standard in which people refer to other persons they are not close to, let alone strangers, Sokka just had to wonder what happened during Toph's investigation.

"I questioned one of the witnesses, Sokka. I thought I should consult with you about something," The returned Shang said, entering the crime scene.

"Shoot." The tribesman listened while still inspecting the weapon and the floor on which it was placed.

"Does Toph ever remove her Earth Gauntlets? Because I've never seen her do that, and the witness I questioned said that the attacker wasn't wearing any gauntlets." The Earthbender explained.

"Good work Shang, Captain, Toph never removes her gauntlets out of our house. Especially not now, with the alien crisis, it helps her feel strong vibrations in the air." The warrior explained.

"That still doesn't prove anything, if I'm to convince that backside of a Lieutenant, I need something more substantial. She's done well at staying under the radar, so I don't know how you plan to prove anything." The Captain was rubbing his temples in agitation, not liking anything of what was going on.

"Fine, let's get to work Shang…"

* * *

Once more, the slippery Avatar has slipped away from the creature's hands, and once more the creature was lagging behind. If only it knew where to go, it could be there in a snap, but following a trail of scent is a slow process. 

It observed the road casually as it walked, the sun shimmering off its dark olive scales, and giving them the look of polished metal plates. Its tail was swishing from one side to the other agitatedly, long as half of the creature's body, and despite no evolutionary functions, the alien found it to serve its master well.

The creature flexed its muscles making the pebbles strewn across the cobble road dance around in the air, they floated around the invader, circling it lazily as it continued its stroll. But they then fell with as much suddenness as a snow avalanche, as the creature halted in place.

It was spying an immense human being, almost as tall as it was, and almost as muscled as well. But what intimidated the alien about the man was not his physique, neither the obvious fact that he was a powerful Earthbender, but rather the gigantic creature he was riding.

The animal towered at approximately twelve feet tall, with a black and white coat, and red eyes, both of which were uncommon in the species, a fact to which the alien was ignorant, never having encountered such a creature before. But even despite the fact it had never seen such an animal, the alien could always sense a fellow Earthbender, and the animal was one of incredible power, it realized, not as incredible as its own but still fearsome.

"Alien!" The gruff voice of Major Massacre called out, challenging, "I have come to put a stop to your reign of terror."

"I have no time for this," The alien hissed, "You keep trying to detain me, so I defend myself. If you would simply leave me be, it would be far simpler for the both of us."

"Come quietly, or by force, the choice is yours." The Major sneered, and the alien glowered at him, taking its stance.

"So be it. Gaia, attack!" The Major roared, followed by his gigantic mount, which then reared on its hind legs and landed its front claws, raising a massive wave of Earth at the alien.

The reptilian decided to smash the steadily rising tsunami of earth, but as it tried it realized, the combined will of the beast and its master were stronger than its own. It instantly stepped backwards into a defensive position, taking the attack in its entirety, the forceful wave pushing it backwards, dragging it across the earth. The attack was a very powerful one, and it hurt the lizardine creature far more than it let on.

As the wave finally dissipated the creature turned to the attack, spinning as it stepped forwards, so that its body was facing right rather than left, when it set its foot down. Three man-sized boulders levitated in front of the alien, and swirling in place (a full three hundred and sixty degrees) for the momentum, it sent a circular kick at them, launching the rocks with force at the Badger-Mole.

With a swipe of her massive claw, Gaia demolished the boulders, then sending a powerful shockwave at the alien Earthbender, forcing it to raise a protective wall in front of it to take the blow, though yet again it was not sufficient, and the creature was hurt. At which point the unique animal dove into the earth, disappearing inside it, and closing the ground above it.

The alien had only just threw itself in the air when the animal emerged once more, exactly where the extraterrestrial was standing a moment before, and three massive boulders were launched at its aerial position, swatting it out of the sky forcefully.

The alien stood up again, after crashing down on the unforgiving earth, glaring at the Major with fury. A trickle of blood ran down from a graze on its muzzle, the red contrasting eagerly with the dark olive scales.

"So you can bleed, and if you can bleed, you can die." The Major said, pleased, pausing before his next attack and basking in his small triumph. The alien had to think quickly, separately it would have no problem defeating the two, but together, they were a force to be reckoned with. The reptile sprinted forwards and jumped in the air, landing and sending a powerful shockwave at its adversaries, but at the same time continuing its progress towards them.

Just as the great animal defended herself from the shockwave, the Earthbender launched itself, using the ground of course, on top of it, attempting to remove the Major from his seat of power. However the beast was soon to react and the alien soon dropped to the ground as once more, the animal burrowed into the ground.

This time however, the alien would not let it escape, it instantly crouched down and delivered a strike of tremendous force with its fist, sending a direct shockwave into the ground, and even causing the entire area to tremble with the force of this mighty blow.

For several moments, the ground was completely still, there was no movement underneath. But then, a sudden burst of vibrations signposted the creature's resurfacing. Admittedly not as injured as the alien had hoped, barely so in fact, as it seemed the two had been prepared for the sudden attack.

Though time was of the essence, the alien was far to inflamed to try and get away, finally a challenge, a fight worth fighting. Certainly all the creature needed was an opening, some weakness to exploit, which it hastily found as the Badger-Mole and its rider took a breath of a pause.

The saddle on which the Major was sitting, it was wrapped around the creature with a belt like device, which was buckled to it by metal links. _**Metal**_ links. It seemed it had found the solution to its problem. With a swift movement forwards, and a thrust of his arm, the two links were shattered, and as the animal went to charge at the alien, the rider fell of its back. A triumphant smile spread across the alien's face as it lifted the ground beneath the giant creature and launched it backwards, crashing it and the unfortunate animal against the earth.

As for the Major, realizing his companion was injured, he rose to his feet and charged at the alien, about to send a massive boulder forwards, as his concentration was disturbed. A gigantic, earthy hand emerged from the ground, completely engulfing him in its stony grip. A glance at the alien showed the Major that the ground was emulating the movements of its hand, and without warning, the Major was smashed hard against the ground, one time after the other. The Major lost count of how many times he was slammed into the floor after what was possibly the fifth time, as he plunged into a painful state of unconsciousness.

The alien, too busy with the Major, failed to notice the animal stampeding at it, but as it finally did, the rocky hand dissolved and in a flash of claws the two creatures were locked in a power struggle. The alien's claws holding the animal's at bay. The animal roared and thick strands of saliva struck the alien's face, as it was slowly being pushed backwards by the mighty animal. Should it be defeated here, its entire cause would most likely be lost. It could not allow that to happen.

The next roar came from the alien itself, and its muscles bulged in effort as slowly, shakingly, but surely, it lifted the Badger-Mole off the ground, holding her suspended above it in an unnatural display of raw strength. As Gaia was in a state of shock as to this happening, the alien slammed her into the ground, just as it did to her rider moments ago, and again and again and again. Where it found this pool of strength, even it did not know, but that didn't stop the extraterrestrial from continuing until the animal was out, then throwing it away on the ground, panting, feeling its sore arms.

The lizardine creature took a short pause; those two were more than a match for it, had it not been a Metalbender, there would be a great chance of its defeat in the battle. It was a streak of luck that it managed to win, a fortunate turn, but a costly one. As the alien was no doubt weakened by this battle, it had no chance to subdue its prey if its powers were not restored to it fully.

A sudden rumbling sound caught the creature's attention, coming from ahead of it.

"No." It said in disbelief, as though the very uttering could undo what was transpiring before it. An army, not a patrol, but an entire army just assembled before him, an army of Earthbenders powerful Earthbenders. An army, that in the reptile's weakened state, it could not hope to defeat.

"It bleeds!" One of the Lieutenants called, the alien recognized this one, it has encountered him before. Liu Shin looked at his men in pride at their major's work, "If it can bleed," He called, and the army finished as one, "It can die!"

Even in full competence, fighting this army would be too much of a setback for the alien, it had one chance only to emerge from this victorious, and it had to concentrate hard. It closed its eyes and entered a deep state of meditation, trying to focus itself and regain some lost energy, it had enough for what it planned, but it had to have enough to continue its chase after the Avatar.

"We give you one last chance to surrender, alien invader! Should you choose to ignore this opportunity, we will subdue you!" Liu Shin called, making the mistake of not attacking the alien immediately. As he received no reply after several moments, Liu Shin smiled, "For the Earth Kingdom!" He shouted, and his call echoed with his men in a resounding blast of sound, as all charged forwards at the creature, hundreds, maybe more, Earthbender elites.

But just as they closed in enough, just enough to begin their attack, the alien's eyes opened, fiery determination in them, and the creature landed all of its weight on the earth, the earth crumbled beneath its foot, and a massive ripple spread in all directions.

The army halted as one, not out of fear, nor awe, but because the entire area had become nothing more than a colossal pit of quicksand, spreading as far as they could see, trapping their unprepared feet in it, and rendering them effectively useless. Cries and screams could be heard from the surprised soldiers of the Gaia Garrison, as they desperately tried to free themselves from this cunning trap.

The creature once more smiled in triumph, as it tread over the quicksand, about to continue its mission. The smile did not hold however, as a massive boulder crashed into the alien from behind, nearly causing the creature to fall into its own trap.

The creature turned around, Major Massacre was once more awake, badly injured, but awake. It was because of him these humans kept attacking the alien, because of him that its mission might not be completed in time, all was because of this stupid, proud, arrogant human. The alien strode at the Major with giant steps, effortlessly deflecting the projectiles the man threw at it.

"The animal was a good idea, a shame your intelligence wasn't as good, or you might have won." It said, hitting the spot, infuriating the Major into a costly mistake; dropping his guard and attacking with fury and futility.

The creature angrily sprinted over to the Major, rocks and boulders smashing against its body with no effect. Then, with a swift strike, it broke the man's arm. The Major however, would not give it the satisfaction of hearing him scream, he glared at the alien, who glared back equally, the hatred between the two was enough to shatter mountains, regardless of their Earthbending status.

"You will never detain me again." The creature then said, and a crack in the earth appeared, spreading from the creature to the man as a crooked spider's-web, the creature stared ragingly at the man, before spreading its arms fiercely, creating a seemingly bottomless chasm in that small stretch of earth that was not turned into quicksand, apparently the work of the experienced Major. No amount of experience in the world however, could have helped the helpless Major escape his inevitable doom, as he fell into the chasm, his scream echoing up the pit. The creature turned around, having subdued the native Earthbending animal, its master and an entire garrison of Earthbenders, it seemed quite pleased with himself, with as much chaos as it caused. It began walking over the quicksand and out of sight, the look of triumph gone from its face and replaced by a stony unclear one. The creature then summoned a wave of sand to carry it, instantly departing from the shocked and furious crowd of Earthbenders.

* * *

Author's Notes: 

Hey folks, I decided to split up this Earth Kingdom finale into two parts, this part and the next one which will be out soon, I hope.

Trivia: Major Massacre is the son of the gigantic man whose window was smashed in Iroh's Tale in "Tales of Ba Sing Se", hence his fearsome physique.


	9. Chapter 8 B

Chapter 8 (B)

Aang reentered the waiting room in the Guard Headquarters of the town, where Toph was sitting, rubbing with her uncovered fingers a stone tablet, on which was imprinted a picture of her family, so that it bulged upwards. In the picture were Toph herself, standing next to Sokka, each with one arm holding the other's side, and another arm on the shoulder of a child. Toph's on Kanna, the second born daughter, blessed with one green eye and one blue eye and an immense talent at Earthbending. And Sokka's hand rested on the firstborn daughter, Yue, just as stunningly beautiful as the woman she was named after, and her mother, with her father's shining blue eyes (though it was not apparent on the dull grey imprint) and apparently a gift at Waterbending the girl had sadly never had the chance to develop.

Toph was running her thumbs over the faces of her family, this way, she could actually see them, a clever way to overcome her blindness in that regard, made by no less than Aang himself. He remembered that day; it was so long ago, they were so happy. But something had to go wrong; the death of Yue had to come, to smash the happiness of Aang's two best friends, the people he was closest to in the world. He lowered his gaze, if only he had made more time to see them, maybe it could have been avoided.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she?" Toph asked, displaying the imprint to Aang, gesturing at Yue.

"She was amazing," Aang agreed, "And a finer girl than any."

"There wasn't an ounce of evil in her too. When we found out Kanna was an Earthbender, even though she never had any Earthbending prowess, and didn't know she was a Waterbender, she was never jealous. She always supported Kanna, she always encouraged her and loved her and always protected her. But in the end, no one was around to protect… _her_…" Toph's voice broke, and she asked the next question with such confusion in it, that Aang became very aware of his state as the Avatar at that point. "Why, why would the planet take her away from us? There was no evil in her, she was always so good, and made everyone she knew so happy… We helped the planet achieve balance, Aang, why did it take ours away?" There were no tears this time, the tears for Yue had dried up already, being that it was above a year after her death, all that remained was the question.

Aang lowered his head again, "I wish I could answer for the planet Toph, and I wish I could bring her back. But I can only say that sometimes there is a reason for what happens even if we, as humans, can't understand it."

Toph sighed, "Here Aang." She gave the imprint to him, for him to observe for some reason.

Aang observed Toph's smiling and stunning visage, she was out of her Dai Li uniform and in her best clothes for the occasion, and her hair was spread elegantly over her shoulders. He observed Sokka's ruggedly handsome face, looking as happy as Aang had ever seen him, wearing his finest threads and his finest expression. Where did these two people go?

He observed Yue, with her mother's beautiful image, her father's majestic eyes, and a pure, innocent smile that no one he had ever laid eyes on could emulate. At last, he observed Kanna, the last living descendant, with an eye of her father, and an eye of her mother, her mother's beautiful image and Earthbending ability, yet her father's curiosity and ability to manage completely without her bending. That and her sister's undefeatable wish to make all around her happy. Her smile alone came close to that of her beloved sister. Slightly below the collar of her dress, the girl was wearing what appeared to be a bug-like jewel.

"Hmm, I saw that beetle on Kanna when I was last at your house." Aang noticed.

"Oh yes, Kanna seemed to have developed a taste for them. I've been feeling it around the house, but never had the heart to squash it." Toph replied, a small smile appearing on her face. Aang was surprised to find out that the beetle was real, but not as surprised as he was when he heard Toph was passing up the opportunity to squash something.

"Toph, I never knew you appreciated all forms of life that way." Aang said proudly, looking over at his Earthbending friend.

"Uh, not _all_ forms of life, just beetles." Toph admitted, waving her hand casually.

"Why beetles?" Aang asked curiously, looking at his friend with interest.

"Well, I used to really… let's say hate them. So one day my mom told me this spirit tale." Toph's smile widened, "I can remember exactly how it went. She was sitting on my bed, tucking me in, and she told me that at some time in the distant past, humans were misusing their Earthbending powers, and hurt the animals. That made the Earth Spirits very angry, and they planned to wipe out all Earthbenders. But one young and brave little spirit, then she tickled my nose and said "just like you", wanted to give the humans another chance.

Against the Earth Spirits' decision, she went to the humans. Though she was young and little, the Earth Spirit had much power in her, she made the Great Divide as a warning to the humans, to stop misusing their powers. The humans, now fearful of the Earth Spirits, vowed to never misuse their powers again. Seeing this, the Earth Spirits decided to give the humans another chance, but for defying them, they turned the little Earth Spirit into a beetle, dooming her to wander the Earth with the humans she protected, for eternity. Then she said, "So you should never hate the beetles, and never ever squash them, or you might hurt the little Earth Spirit." Never let a beetle get squished in my presence since. Neither did Kanna, since I told it to her." Toph finished.

"That was a nice story," Aang said, smiling, "I'm glad you told it to me."

"Hah, Sokka wasn't as glad when I told him. He said that Earth Spirits or no, beetles were disgusting creatures, and that he wonders how I can stand living with one in the house."

"So what did you tell him?" Aang asked with interest, and the Earthbender snickered.

"I told him that after living a while with a large disgusting creature in the house, the little ones don't bother me." Aang joined her snickering, "He was very offended by that though," Toph remembered, "He wouldn't even touch the food I made that evening….For the first five minutes!" She declared, and both she and the Avatar burst out laughing.

* * *

The village was given an orangey-red tint as the blissful twilight came, the sky itself was painted a fine golden color, red and purple clouds gathered in them as a fluffy blanket, ready to cover the children of the earth with its tender and warmness. 

The perfume seller was hard at work arranging canisters of perfumes from her stand in the square of the village inside boxes, as she was about to go home for the evening, when a big shadow covered her entirely.

"Excuse me," A throaty voice said, coming out from underneath a gigantic dark green cloak.

"Oh my," The young woman said, "How could I ever help a big man like yourself?" She asked, not without a hint of flirtation.

"I'm looking for the Avatar." The throaty voice replied, "I heard he passed through here recently?"

"Sure did!" The seller said excitedly, "And did you hear about the alien? I heard with my own ears that it was chasing him! Wait…" The woman suddenly said, eyeing the cloaked person suspiciously, "You're Major Massacre aren't you? Going undercover to get the alien right?"

"Oh, yes but not a word about it." The voice replied quietly, almost overtaken by surprise, finally this Major Malfunction person was good for something.

"Oh I admire you, you know." The handsome young woman said, now obviously flirting, "The way you keep everything in order, there wasn't a single crime in here for years!"

"No problem," The voice answered hurriedly, "Listen, I really need to find the Avatar, could you tell me which way he went?" The person asked urgently.

"Oh yes, I heard them mention something about an Air Temple, the Eastern one I believe." The woman gossiped shamelessly.

"The Eastern Air Temple? Do you have any maps? I seemed to have lost mine." The cloak excused itself, but the woman was more than happy to help. She marked the location on a map she had been keeping around for just these occasions and gave it to the person, who bade her a good day and was off.

"Such a fine man…" The woman sighed, slipping into a deep fantasy involving him sweeping her off her feet in a daring rescue, fighting no less than fifty aliens to save her.

* * *

After a grueling day of trying to find enough evidences, Shang had met with Sokka in the town's tavern. Both drinking a cold mug of ale, relaxing a bit from their work. 

"Nothing, not one thing at the crime scene that can prove without reasonable doubt that Toph didn't do it." Sokka mentioned heavily, wiping his face of the tiredness slowly.

"I talked to the witnesses, but I don't think I know enough about her to ask the right questions." Shang admitted, leaning on his elbow, eyes half closed. "One of them kept going on about the lovely shoes she had on, I swear I almost made shoe leather out of _her_." The Earthbender then closed his eyes and sighed.

"Wait, what?" Sokka asked, "Toph never wears shoes, I mean, she doesn't even have shoes. She only ever makes Earth Shoes for herself. I just hope it'll be enough for the captain… hey Shang," The warrior smiled slyly then, as his eyes scanned the tavern, "Take a look at that woman on the far corner."

Shang turned his weary gaze over to the black haired woman, sipping from his ale and choking on it. "Excuse… Me… Sokka…" He said between splutters and coughs, "I'll be right back."

"Yeah, go get'er tiger!" Sokka called after him, slumping back on his seat and watching the man at work.

Shang approached the woman, and started talking to her in a hushed voice. The woman seemed unimpressed, but began talking quickly in the same hushed voice. Sokka couldn't make out a single word of what they were saying. The two continued to talk, but it seemed the conversation was heating up; word fragments could be heard now, as the two spoke. Then, with no warning whatsoever, the woman gave Shang a resounding slap in the face. Shang said one last thing to her, and returned to Sokka, who seemed rather amused.

"So…?" He asked the Earthbender.

"Apparently, we're very good friends." Shang told, and was more than surprised at Sokka's reaction of thundering laughter.

"Oh, that was a good one, yeah… whew…" Sokka said, wiping a tear, Shang's eyebrow rose so high it seemed to vanish in his hair.

* * *

In the dull waiting room, Toph and the Captain were having a pleasant chat, Aang having left shortly after Toph had finished her story, to resume his investigation. The Captain was exhausted, having run around trying to get witnesses for Shang to interrogate, and field facts for Sokka to analyze. 

"So why have you been hiding this whole time?" The Captain asked, sitting on a chair, his legs resting on square block he summoned. Toph couldn't shake the familiar feeling she had with him.

"Well, I uh, haven't exactly been hiding. I've just been keeping a low profile." The Dai Li answered awkwardly, and she could feel the Captain looking at her.

"Odd, because no one has been able to find you for years, most people don't even know you're a Dai Li. I didn't, until one of the witnesses told me you were." The Captain looked up at the ceiling, sighing.

"What? Only the Dai Li know who their members are. I've made sure of that. How could they know it was me?" The woman asked wonderingly, and the Captain shrugged.

"I suppose she might be related to one of them, might've slipped out somehow." Toph grinded her teeth, no way, not while they were under her. Something wasn't right here.

"So why have you been keeping such a low profile?" The Captain distracted her from her thoughts, sounding more serious now.

"Well, I…" Toph started uncomfortably, when relief came in the form of Aang, marching through the door to the waiting room with a look of triumph on his face.

"I got it. I can prove Toph was innocent. The Earthbender that killed the man wasn't blind; I have the witnesses to back it up too." He declared triumphantly.

"How could you talk to the witnesses if that Earthbender guy was with them all day?" The Captain asked in amazement, getting up from his seat.

"He's the Avatar," Toph simply answered, and the Captain nodded, seeing the point.

* * *

"We're never going to get out of here, are we?" Sokka asked wearily, head slumped on the table he was sitting at. 

"We'll have to; they're closing in half an hour." Shang replied, slightly more alert than Sokka, but only slightly. The table in the meanwhile has gathered an impressive collection of mugs, and it was plainly obvious why the two were so drowsy.

"I meant this town; they'll never let Toph out… The frame up was too good…" The drunken Tribesman explained, raising his head from the table and looking blearily around.

The two sat like that for a while, not talking, just sitting quietly and not doing anything at all. And in no time, the tavern closed, and the owner shooed them out, while mentioning he has never seen people drink like that in his life.

So the two emerged into the cold, cloudy, starless night, sobering chill winds swept the men's faces as they stood outside, and both decided to head to the nearest inn, to sleep their buzz off.

The two, though drunk out of their wits walked with incredible balance. Sokka's honed by years of practice and training so that even in a drunken state, he didn't stumble. And Shang probably just used the Earth to balance himself, as drunken Earthbenders are wont to do.

The two walked for a while, wandering around, trying to find an inn, laughing at dumb jokes and singing happily, until suddenly the Earthbender of the two stopped dead in his tracks.

"Sokka," He muttered, shaking his head, "Sokka you have to go and get the others,"

"Nah, it's so much fun without them!" Sokka called happily, waving his arm in the air.

"No, Sokka," Shang turned the tribesman to him, now completely tense and serious, "You have to sober up; the alien's coming, go and warn the others."

* * *

"So she was distracted by a bird, a flying bird! Toph could never see a flying bird, she wouldn't be able to sense it, because it's not touching the ground." Aang finished explaining his long day of investigating. 

"I'm convinced, I never thought a Bei Fong would murder anyway." The Captain stated dully, resting back on his chair.

"You know the Bei Fong family?" Aang asked, and Toph looked at the Captain strangely as he answered.

"Yes I…" The Captain started, when a blue streak entered through the door, and ran into a table, knocking it over and

"Sokka?" Toph asked, "Are you drunk?"

"No time, we've got to go, the alien's here!" The drunken warrior said, attempting to stabilize himself, "Shang…." He started, as a thunderous crash and the form of Shang suddenly burst through the wall. "Well, he _was_ holding it back, let's go!"

Aang looked at the Captain, who nodded, the five quickly exited the headquarters, as soon as the Captain reached the outside, he struck a nearby gong with such force, that the sound must've woken up at least the entire town.

"You can go, move! Toph, a moment if you will!" The Captain called, and Toph quickly moved to him, he approached her and whispered with haste.

"I don't know when I will see you again, or if there will even be a next time." That's an odd thing for him to say, she thought, "I'm sorry we never got to know each other better, but at least we finally met." Toph became quite uncomfortable at that moment, she almost knew what was coming next.

The Captain held her hand, and whispered right to her ear, "Mom and dad are really, really, sorry." He said and turned to the group of guards now assembling in front of him.

Toph froze in place, and had to be dragged by Aang to join the others on a single Earth Wave, in which they streaked off.

"What's going on?" Asked the Lieutenant, struggling with his armor as he ran and the Captain pointed to somewhere in the distance.

"That's going on." The Lieutenant turned his head around and the monstrous Earthbender came into view and with it a volley of head-sized rocks. The expert team of Earthbenders instantly raised a protective wall in front of themselves…

* * *

Toph was being held by Sokka, still stunned, she suddenly noticed that the Captain did not hold her hand; he had placed something in it. She felt it with her thumb, the smooth texture, the bulges, the protrusion in the shape of a winged boar… 

"I have a brother…" She said in disbelief.

"What?" Sokka asked, he had slightly sobered up dunking his head in a barrel of water on the way to the Guard Headquarters.

"That was my brother…" The Earthbender ran her thumb over the medallion again, "That is my brother!" She yelled, and instantly she lurched forwards, trying to get off the Earth Wave.

"No!" Sokka yelled, holding her back only barely, and finally Shang and Aang, bending side by side, took notice of them.

"What's going on?" Aang called, looking back at the struggling couple.

"She thinks that Captain was her brother!" Sokka cried, his muscles were protesting against the heavy strain if trying to hold Toph back.

"But Toph, you didn't have any siblings!" The Avatar yelled over, and Toph spun around so violently to him, that she nearly knocked Sokka clean off the earth transport.

She swung the medallion in front of him, "He had this, it has my family's seal! His voice is just like my dad's, that's why he was so familiar! We have to go back Aang, you can't let that thing kill him!"

"We can't Toph; we have to get to the Air Temple!" Sokka called, and the Earth Wave slowed considerably as Shang ceased his bending, focusing on the argument, and leaving it completely to Aang.

"Listen Toph, I know you're worried, but if that's your brother, he'll be fine. The alien won't kill him unless he can't go around him! But he might die regardless, if we don't get to the Air Temple." The Avatar yelled over the sound of the wind blowing past them and the sounds of the earth grinding beneath them.

"It's too late to go back now anyway!" Shang called, "That alien beat the entire Gaia Garrison! He's probably already after us now!"

Toph did not question Shang's call, neither did Aang or Sokka, they were all just quiet, waiting for the Dai Li's reaction. The woman looked down and fell to her knees, held tightly, but now in a comforting manner by her husband.

"He'll be alright." The Water Tribesman told her softly, but she was still, and silent, she had a brother, a younger brother… but she never knew. She was so busy hiding from her parents, that she never tried to see what was going on with them. She never got the word, she never knew…

* * *

Author Notes: 

Come on guys, what happened to the reviews? I'd like to thank Child of The Mind for his critique which is appreciated – I'll redouble my efforts in the fields you've mentioned. Keep reviewing! As for all of you, where'd you gone off to? Feedback folks!

That's all from me now, in the next chap they'll reach the Air Temple, so stay tuned!

Cursor


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The darkness that night weighed twice as heavily on the Avatar's group. It seemed that whenever they would rid themselves of one trouble, another, more terrible one would always follow. The discovery that Toph had a brother would have been a wonderful occasion, if it wasn't for the circumstances.

The Avatar has not ceased his bending for the entire time since they left the Earth Town, and Sokka and Shang, now much sobered up, though with terrible headaches, both looked concernedly at Toph, who had not voiced a single word since she resigned not to return and aid her brother.

"We're almost there…" Aang spoke, not looking back. He felt terrible for Toph; it seemed the planet really had something against her family. Between her daughter dying, Sokka's ever growing alienation, and now the state of her newfound brother was unclear. Aang was the Avatar, the reincarnation of the planet into human form, yet he could not help her, at this point there was no comforting her, all he could do was hope and pray that her brother would be as powerful as her, or at least enough to remain alive.

Fittingly enough, the night was starless, and for the moment the moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds. Soon the morrow would come, and with it, they should reach the Air Temple.

Shang suddenly turned towards Aang, moving closer to him on the Earth Wave and whispering urgently.

"Am I the only one who thinks it is worrying that the Alien is not chasing us?"

"No, I'd hope it means that Toph's brother managed to stop it… But that would border insanity." Aang whispered back irritably.

"I've heard that he bested the entire Gaia Garrison, stuck them up to their necks in quicksand, and killed their Major." Shang continued worriedly, glancing over at Toph. "Maybe I should go to the Air Temple first, in case it's a trap."

Aang smiled; there was no mirth in the expression, but rather a certain sort of comfort. Shang, though a complete stranger, volunteered himself, at his own risk to join their group. He was promised no reward, and many dangers, and yet he only seemed to want to make sure the Avatar reached his destination in one piece.

"Thank you Shang, but I don't think it's necessary. You've already done more than enough, and I don't want you risking your life." The Avatar explained, "And together, we'll have a better chance to defeat the alien."

"I hate to sound as though I don't want to admit I was wrong, but if I was right, and it does track us by smell, then it means that it knows where we're going. It'll be preparing for us; don't you think we should at least check it first?"

"No, it wouldn't be able to find out; it can't possibly speak our language."

Shang nodded and began assisting Aang with his bending, easing the load and slightly speeding up the Earth Wave.

They were heading forwards, to the unknown, to what might be the last battle of their lives, the silence that followed Aang and Shang's conversation weighed thrice as heavy then, as with the feelings of sadness, came the feelings of dread and anticipation. Either way, they were going to get rid of the Earthbending alien, or it would get rid of them…

The first beams of light appeared over the horizon, illuminating the party in a bright and fiery orange glow. Their features seemed to sharpen in the early morning light, and they also seemed shadowed, burdened, and not surprisingly, as they were all burdened by what awaited ahead.

Sokka in the meanwhile, somehow managed to fall asleep, Toph in his arms. Straying thoughts still chased their tails in his mind, the most prominent among them being thoughts of uselessness. Being unable to assist his wife and his best friend against the onslaught of the alien, their deaths would be on his hands. His ineptitude would be the cause of their demise, just as it was for Princess Yue, and his daughter, Yue. He knew his future would be filled with struggle and anguish… but why did it have to be self inflicted? Why did his loved ones had to die because of his ineptitude. Maybe it was time, to let it go. Maybe it was time to finally stop fighting…

_He was standing alone, on the side of a cliff, many rocks and boulders were amassed on the edge, just waiting to be pushed down upon unsuspecting travelers. The faint voice of a child could be heard, laughter._

_"Look Aunt Katara! I'm doing it!" another voice could be heard over the laughter, storming applause and whistling. _

_"You're doing wonderful darling!" He heard his sister's voice, filled with excitement of the sort he had not heard for years. "You're so talented, I've never seen someone this good who wasn't born to a bender." She commented. _

_The rocks, they were there, just waiting. Someone had to push them down, had to push them now. They had to fall, to bury everything, they had to fall, to crush… to kill… _

_He approached the edge slowly, hands outstretched in front of him, the rocks were there, he could hear his wife's voice in his head._

_"People maybe different, but rocks are the same; they just want something to crush." She said when she was only thirteen. She had never repeated this sentence, so why did it come to him now? Of course, she wanted him to let the rocks have their way, to let them crush, to let them fulfill their desire, their destiny…_

_Together, they fell, a scream, a shout._

_"Auntie!" _

_A protective bubble of ice could only barely hold the onslaught; the slightest of weights would break it. Sokka jumped, aiming down at it…_

"We need to kill it." Sokka said fiercely, alerting all on the Earth Wave.

"We have to." Toph agreed, speaking for the first time since their departure.

* * *

The area surrounding the Eastern Air Temple was only days ago lush, filled with masses of trees, bushes and animals. But now, it was a desolate land, one hundred and twenty feet in radius, the entrance path was surrounded by tall spires, like a fence. Shang was right; the creature knew where they were headed. The battle had to come now.

The only path in the mountain was blocked; a sitting creature guarded it, darkest green in color. The four faced it, each armed with their weapon of choice, be it Bending or Steel.

Two large man-like effigies of rock stood side by side with the creature. Rock monsters allied with the reptilian one, standing statue still and glowering at their challengers.

"I," The creature spoke, its hard voice rebounding off the spires of rocks, creating a tunnel-like effect, "Am Gaius, firstborn of the New Earth Cycle. You will not proceed."

"Try and stop us." Toph said calmly, taking a single step in the creature's direction, causing a series of events to take place so quickly, that if one would have winked at that precise moment, he would have missed the entire event.

The creature, in less than an instant elevated itself to its feet, landing its foot forwards and sending a tremendous shockwave at the opponent, who; equally fast, had the Earth throw her in the air, with two magnificent twists, both of her earth shoes soared at the Earth Creature, striking it square on its chest. It seemed unaffected.

"You guys take the creature, I'll take those rockheads." Shang called, stepping backwards, stretching his fisted hands in front of him and pulling them back as he did, then jabbing both at the ground at once, sending two shockwaves speeding on the ground, to both sides of the Avatar's group. The tremors, with no more ground left to expand on, then ascended to the sides, riding on the spires, moving apart and then drawing closer as they approached their destination, the Earth Monsters.

As one, the beasts strode forwards and struck the ground, causing a small quake and sending their own powerful tremors, easily neutralizing Shang's. Then as one, both disappeared in the ground, to reappear in front of the Earthbender, both launching themselves in the air at the human.

Aang charged forwards, quick as lightning, dodging another massive tremor sent by the creature and running sideways on the wall of rocks, then launching himself at Gaius, sending three blades of air at him as he reached him. The creature solidified his stance and sent his hand upwards, his forearm making a ninety degrees angle with his upper arm, and a small pillar of rock rose in front of him, blocking the air attacks. And as the Avatar landed softly on its side the creature smashed it, sending Aang away with a hail of rocks. Meanwhile Toph had landed sending a house-sized Earth Wave at the creature, the earth just waiting to crush him underneath its weight.

Gaius merely sent a circular kick at the base of the oncoming tsunami of rock, and it was as though the wave was sliced in two, and the top part collapsed on the bottom part, halting the attack. The alien then quickly raised his hand as though holding a pinch of powder, and the metal boomerang hurled at him by Sokka stopped mere inches from its eye. The weapon began spinning in place, and as a saw-blade it sailed towards the warrior, who somersaulted over it, landing on his feet and drawing both of his machetes, charging forwards.

Shang launched himself into the air, dodging the combined attack of the Earth Monsters, and evading the earthquake they caused as they landed. A stone pillar rose to him as he approached the earth. And from it he mounted his next assault, sending both arms downwards and then to his side, lifting two chucks of the earth in front of him, creating a trench of sorts. Clapping his hands above his head, the Earthbender fashioned a sorts of saw-blade of his own from the earth. Raising his hand to his temple in a salute-like movement, to gather momentum, Shang's hand then flew forwards, as though to strike the temple of a person in front of him, and with it the saw-blade moved, slicing the Earth Monsters right through their waist, and proceeding to smash against the earth walls.

Blocking three well aimed boulders and evading a row of spikes sailing at his direction, Gaius mounted his own attack, sending an earth tremor and raising a part of his stone-spire wall in the air, hurling it with force at the opposing Earthbender. Then quickly ducking to avoid the slash of a machete, and sending a kick at Sokka's foot, knocking him off balance and to the floor. To end the kick the creature stomped the ground, sending Sokka a distance before he stood firm to clash against a boulder sent by Aang. He emerged unscathed.

"Why can't you just…" Aang yelled, and for Sokka, who had just landed next to him, it seemed as though he was crying, for his eyes had a white gleam to them, "Die?!"

No sooner than the Avatar said that, did he send his right arm forwards, two fingers outstretched, the rest closed, and his right leg forwards, leaning on it and lowering himself slightly. Out of his outstretched fingers, a blue streak emerged, shooting all the way at the alien, striking it on the arm with the speed of a bolt of lightning.

The creature let out a roar of surprise and grasped his left forearm, on which the scales had been burned off, revealing scorched flesh underneath. Aang's blow struck deep. But who seemed more surprised due to it, the creature or Aang, was yet to be determined.

Sokka didn't let that stop him however, he charged forwards once more, only to be deflected with an Earth Wall, flying at him and batting him backwards at his wife, who had successfully crashed the Earth Spire into the ground to block the alien's shockwave. She charged from around the pillar, along with her mate, and for a moment, it seemed to him as though she too was crying, for her eyes shun in the light as well, as she decidedly stepped forwards.

With the sudden ferocity of a tornado a gravity-defying avalanche rose upwards from the ground beneath Gaius, with no rumbling sound nor warning, it just appeared there and climbed upwards, burying the alien in its midst. Upon reaching twenty feet in the air began collapsing upon itself, tremendous rocks collapsing and rising in its midst. No human could have survived being in that sort of attack.

Gaius however, was no human. His form emerged from the avalanche and landed on the ground. He took his fist back and struck the ground fearsomely, and the ground began to revolve around him at high speed, sending Aang, Toph and Sokka struggling for balance. However, that was not the essence of the attack, as rock pillars began rising in the paths of the heroes, causing them to crash through them painfully, one after the other.

Sokka alone managed to break this circle and charge forwards at the creature, now from behind his back, as the ground kept spinning. He at last managed to set foot on the tiny circle around Gaius that did not move, but just as he did so, Gaius' leg shot up to his head, and his face was encircled by his claws. Gaius glowered at him angrily and taking his hand off the ground he quickly spun in place and released the warrior, throwing him against the stone wall forcefully. Then whirling his leg in front of him and landing it in front of himself to defend against a shockwave from Toph, who while the ground stopped moving, attacked him.

At that point Shang made to join the battle, and noticed the blood coming out of the creature's wounds, he yelled with glee, "Look! It bleeds! If it can bleed, it can…"

"Shut up!" The creature roared, kicking the ground in Shang's direction angrily, and sending a boulder crashing into the Earthbender. "Why does everyone keep saying that? Yes I can bleed, yes I can die. Stop worrying about _my_ ability to die and start worrying about _your_ ability to do the same."

Shang was thrown backwards against a hard surface, the rock smashing against him as he countered its force with his Earthbending. Rubbing his head slightly, he looked around to see what he had hit, and unfortunately enough, an Earth Monster was glowering back at him, fully regenerated.

The creature's eyes darkened as he thrust his arms upwards, instantly all of the stone spires serving as his trusted wall rose into the air, and launched themselves at both Toph and Aang. Both of which assumed a defensive stand, and raised the ground around them to absorb the blow.

"Things are finally heating up!" Sokka commented, racing past the two and jumping right between three speeding man-sized boulders sent at him, avoiding them perfectly. Toph decided to go along with Sokka's strategy and gave him a boost, having the earth launch him into the air at the alien. Gaius made to swat the incoming warrior, however the agile tribesman merely adjusted himself in the air so he was above the creature's threatening left arm, though as he passed the creature, he sent a vicious slash at said forearm, exactly where Aang had previously burned it, and a great deal of blood sprayed outwards, the creature did not roar this time, though Sokka let out a voice of triumph.

Gaius' tail was hardly considered in Sokka's strategy, and so as it caught the warrior in mid air, smashed him against the floor repeatedly and then threw him right over at Toph, who could not defend herself against it, (for fear of hurting her husband) or avoid it, (out of fear that Sokka would be injured hitting the ground, and since she could not calculate where it would be, she could not cushion his fall.) The warrior clashed with his wife and both fell on the ground.

The alien examined his injured arm, "I'm sick of this!" He called angrily, "If you will not fight me properly then I will destroy your destination!" And at that he entered a horse stance, arms bent to his front.

In the meanwhile, Shang was doing his best to avoid the onslaught by the Earth Monsters, avoiding tremor after tremor, swipe after swipe and boulder after boulder. His precious technique seemed to have worked perfectly in damaging the creatures. However their regeneration was a problem. His last sliver of hope against those things was that if they took enough damage, they would not be able to regenerate.

He launched himself far backwards, standing a great distance from the two monsters and performed the same motion he did earlier, this time however, instead of raising one giant saw-blade, he summoned two smaller ones (though still quite large). Then he sprinted forwards, in a kind of Kata, more like a dance. Spinning and turning in place, with the saw-blades whistling around him, chopping at the helpless monsters mercilessly. Admittedly, the monsters were tough, probably tougher than any standard Earthbender, but Shang was no standard Earthbender.

Fortunately, it seemed he was right. The creatures, now hacked into pieces, did not rise again once they had fallen.

"I have to admit I am impressed with what you have accomplished while still holding back." Gaius spoke chillingly, "Third and Fifth Level Earthbenders, an Avatar and a warrior to whom I would bow out of respect."

"Why are you doing this?" Aang called, preparing himself mentally for another Firebending move, a finishing move.

"Because it is so.' Gaius spoke, and as these last words left his throat, the ground began to shake terribly. The ground around the mountain housing the Air Temple began to crack, what was left of the lizardine creature's wall collapsed, and in the light of the sun he seemed frightening to behold.

"Aang he's tearing up the Air Temple, stop him!" Toph called, feeling the ground's cries beneath her.

Aang's eyes widened and in an instant he launched his Firebending forwards, only to be blocked by a stone pillar, to retain the concentration to demolish the Air Temple, yet being able to resist his surroundings was an impressive feat, even for an Avatar.

Aang did not stop there however, being the only one who could strike, as the other three were knocked off balance, he launched a fierce flurry of fireballs at Gaius, but was blocked each time.

"Time to lose!" Gaius called, but as he did so, he was knocked straight into the ground by a great thrust of air.

As the creature rolled to its feet agilely, he stared at the incoming attackers, Airbenders, dozens of them. His eyes shifted between Aang's party, but then seemed to lock on the Airbenders, in an instant, he was gone into the Earth.

"Avatar Aang!" The mother superior called, her envoy of nuns following her as she raced to him. Are you alright?

"Yeah, we're fine," Said Toph, trying to remove her husband's muscular physique off her form, "Thanks for asking." She rolled her blind eyes as she finally managed to throw her complaining mate off of her.

"We felt the Earthquake, and we raced out to see this creature here fighting you." The Mother Superior explained.

"Let's talk about it inside." Aang said, and sent a meaningful look to the others, to make it clear they are not to speak until they are away from this company.

* * *

"… So we have to go." Aang finished explaining to the Mother Superior, "And you must be prepared, we've been through combat training. Train hard."

"Combat training? I thought Air Nomads were peaceful?" Toph asked.

Aang nodded. "We are, but we've been trained in self defense. The monks never let us learn advanced combative techniques though, but I'm not going to make that mistake, there's not going to be another massacre." He explained.

The two were standing on a large courtyard made of marble, about to mount on trusty old Appa, who seemed very excited to see Toph and Sokka again.

However, just as Aang had said his farewells to the Mother Superior, the sound of footsteps came hurriedly.

"I'm coming with you!" Suki called, in her full Kyoshi outfit, which was rather tight on her, since she has grown much since.

"I have the right to be with you, they killed Haru!" She yelled, even though Aang had never countered her. Aang so the smudges of tears in her make-up, and sighed.

"Suki, you can come with us, but you have to promise you won't let your anger get in the way of your judgment." Aang said, looking at her with compassion.

"It won't, I want to help." Suki said, mounting Appa without another word after Aang nodded his approval. Sokka looked back at Suki, and patted Aang on the back, he trusted the Avatar's judgment..

"I guess this is goodbye then." Said Shang, standing in front of the party, "I'll try and help the Earth Army from here, hopefully we'll get the alien before he has a chance to recover." He stepped forwards and extended his hand to Aang, who shook it warmly.

"Thanks Shang, you've been a great help. I wish all the best for you." The monk said, then moving over to mount his animal companion.

"Yeah Shang, you've helped out a lot." Sokka said, shaking Shang's hand eagerly.

As Toph approached, Shang once more extended his hand, but Toph simply gave him a bear hug, Sokka saw him grimace, and inwardly chuckled at his wife.

"You've been awesome Shang, when this is all over, look me up, I can get you into the Dai Li, we'd love to have someone like you on board."

"Thank you Toph, I'll be glad." Shang said, and quickly drew away.

All farewells said, the three friends mounted the Air Bison, and with a simple "Yip yip" the mighty beast launched into the air, leaving the Air Temple, headed towards the Fire Nation.

* * *

The alien sped through the ground, he had failed once more, the elusive Avatar had avoided him again, and now, he was no longer in Gaius' reach. This will not be the end of it though, that much Gaius knew.

He finally stopped and broke through the earth, now standing on the surface. His arm was still bleeding, the flow slightly dampened by the pressure he was applying on it. He had to regroup.

He turned around, about to proceed in the direction he was heading, when he encountered two massive ruby-red eyes.

"There's the alien! Kill it!" Voices rang in Gaius' ears. The Gaia Garrison, now led by Liu Shin, had caught up to him, the Badger-Mole with them. Surrounded by hundreds of Earthbenders, the creature took his stance…

* * *

Author's note:

Let me tell you the story, I'm getting drafted, not surprisingly, since it's an obligation here in Israel, what with us on the brink of war and surrounded by enemies and all.

So this is gonna be held up for a while, I'll continue to write in weekends (the ones I get off on) and if all goes well you'll have a chapter every weekend! I hope it's good enough. I tried to finish this chapter, but the preparations completely stole all of my time and I find myself ten hours away from the time I'm supposed to report for duty, writing this. So sorry, but it's not really my fault.

All you guys are wonderful, the readers, the reviewers and everyone who has fun reading this story. When I finish the chapter I'll just replace this and put the notice at the end of it, so don't worry about fragmentation.

This is Cursor, signing off for now and hoping that you will hear from me again very soon.

And as we say in Hebrew, Le'hitraot c'hevre ani zahzti!


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"What I want to know is why it ran away as soon as the Airbenders came." The blue-clothed warrior said into the fresh morning air. The reassembled party of four was now soaring through the skies above the Earth Kingdom, heading south-westwards. The cold, fast winds of the morning whipped their faces, sending Toph and Suki's hair fluttering aggravatingly.

"Maybe it couldn't handle so many enemies?" The female warrior suggested halfheartedly, her mind was obviously in another, darker place.

"No," Aang denied her, "Shang, the Earthbender who came with us to the Air Temple, said that the alien had bested the entire Gaia Garrison. Oh and Sokka, I'm fairly sure it's a 'he'." The Avatar explained, "I think it was more due to the fact that they were Airbenders." He theorized.

"But why would anyone be afraid of Airbenders?" Toph's question rang out, laden with skepticism. The Dai Li was sitting in a lonely spot at the very back of the saddle, sulking over the loss of her "sight" at the moment.

"That's what I'm worried about…" The monk replied ominously, and returned his attention to the reigns. Appa let out a small roar of boredom and Aang pet his massive head, the Bison's soft plume brushing against his hand gently.

"I kind of thought those monsters were with the alien, but I really hoped they weren't. I suppose that just makes him more dangerous." Sokka pointed out in a gloomy tone, wondering exactly how many of those monsters were roaming the Earth Kingdom.

"Shang seemed to handle them pretty well," Toph let out a sliver of brightness, "I don't know if any of you saw, but the Earth Saws he made are actually a pretty advanced technique." She informed them.

"Speaking of which," Sokka interfered, shifting towards Aang as he continued. "What did that lizard mean when he said 'Third and Fifth Level Earthbenders'?"

"Oh, well, there used to be a way to measure a bender's power, ages ago… but we don't use it anymore, mainly because in the war benders didn't exactly go around showing off their powers. Well, anyone outside of the Fire Nation anyway…" Aang explained with care, remembering it from the times before the war.

"How does it work?" Suki asked; there was only a shard of interest in her voice, being non-bender herself.

"Well, Level One indicates a standard Bender, like Haru. Level Two would indicate a Bender with advanced combative training, like say, the Dai Li, though I'm pretty sure that the new batch under Toph would be Level Three." Aang described the levels slowly.

"Which is?" Toph questioned.

"Bending Masters, like your old Master Toph, Master Yu?" The Airbender asked and Toph nodded.

"How about Level Four and Five?" The Water Tribesman inquired, shifting into a semi laying position on the side of the saddle.

"Level Four, I think that's supposed to mean a very powerful Bender, like King Bumi, or Master Pakku." Aang said, "And Level Five indicates a Bender of the most powerful Level of his or her element. So there can only be one, who would be replaced by the person who defeated them."

"I suppose Avatars don't count in this calculation do they? Since they pretty much beat everyone else blindfolded…" Sokka stated, picking loose threads off his clothes.

"Well he did say 'and the Avatar…' Or something like that didn't he?" Aang stated.

"So what's the deal with this alien Aang? Do you think it's going to chase us?" Toph asked, lowering her Dai Li hat over her face to stop the wind from blowing on it.

"I don't know, the vision was very… inconclusive." Aang said quietly, not adding anything to it, "Which is exactly why I want to make a stop on our way to the Fire Nation."

"A stop?" Sokka asked, straightening up, "Where?"

"You'll see soon enough..." Aang said, and pulled back the reigns to make Appa rise above the clouds, so the ground was completely concealed from them.

This flight lasted for several hours, Suki had fallen asleep on one side of Appa's back, while Sokka was snoring on the other. Toph might as well have been sleeping for all Aang could tell, since her Dai Li hat was still over her face. So Aang was slightly surprised to feel her hand on his shoulder.

"Aang," She said softly, "Something seems to be bothering you… Is everything okay?" Aang felt Goosebumps spread on his skin, this new compassionate Toph was unnatural, and was making him feel very uncomfortable.

"I… well you saw how I lost control back in the fight with Gaius…" He said, "I didn't mean to use such strong Firebending. I was just…"

"I know… I felt that way too." She said, now giving him some sort of gentle massage, mainly to have something to do with her hands.

"And this whole thing, everything… things don't make any sense, they don't connect. Back in your brother's town, why did someone frame you for that guy's murder?" Aang asked.

"Maybe it happened so that I could meet my brother? You know sometimes things happen for a reason, even if we as humans can't understand it." Toph said; a smile spread on her lips and on Aang's as well.

"You think so?" He asked, amused.

"You never know." She replied mock-seriously, shrugging theatrically. And both laughed.

"What's with all the laughing? Can't a guy get some sleep around here?" Sokka asked, rubbing his eyes.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Aang called back to the warrior, "We're here." He whipped Appa's reigns gently and the creature made its descent, lowering down through the thick layer of clouds.

The view that spread before them was of a vast ocean of gold, shimmering in the morning sun, like mounds of treasure stretching everywhere the eye could see, the breathtaking dunes, as waves of the sea was all for their eyes to take. They were in the desert. Aang must have veered Appa further southwards while they were above the clouds.

Though he had his doubts, Sokka thought he knew where Aang was heading.

"We're heading for that crazy owl again aren't we?" He asked, looking down at the magnificent golden hills.

"Yes we are." Aang answered immediately, Toph sat behind him, unfascinated by the view she could not see.

"I'm not sure he'd be very glad to see us again." She stated, though Aang simply smiled.

"I'm sure he's forgotten and forgiven." He said, "Look, there's the library again, it's above the surface!" He called cheerily and pointed to a single tower emerging from the sea of sand.

There was definitely something creepy about his cheerfulness now, Sokka thought, but after further contemplation he decided not to bring it up.

Appa landed rather reluctantly on the hot sand, having only bad memories from this place, but he did as his human companion directed and landed next to the structure.

Aang dismounted with a leap to the sand, raising a small cloud of it into the air. He began heading towards the library, seeming completely calm for someone who was about to face the same creature that nearly buried him in the past. But when Sokka and Suki made to follow, he raised his hands.

"Actually guys, I think I should go in alone… I'm pretty sure he won't be happy to see you, Sokka." The warrior scowled, and muttered several choice words about the owl. Suki merely shrugged and settled back into her corner, and Toph once more seemed uncaring as to whether she should ever visit this legendary palace of knowledge.

Aang took one last look at his party, reassured that they should be perfectly fine for a few moments without him, and then with a leap he entered the Library of Wan Shi Tong.

The ancient structure was pristine; the stone zodiacs were just as they were when Aang had visited twenty five years ago. The library shelves towered ominously over the aisles, and the many bridges connecting them. Aang hesitated for a moment and then called.

"Wan Shi Tong!"

At once a massive gust of wind blew Aang's robe upwards, as the gigantic owl soared up and landed right next to him with a heavy thud.

"Avatar Aang, I have not been expecting you so soon." The owl's voice was as monotonic as ever, and his shining black orbs stared unblinkingly into Aang's grey-hazel ones.

"You've been expecting me?" The monk asked, if his voice did not show his surprise, his face surely did.

"As I said, I have not been expecting you this soon." The owl repeated calmly, standing perfectly still.

"So you know about the aliens? What's going on here?" Aang pleaded urgently, but the owl stood as still as a statue, and he answered as coldly as one.

"It is not yet time, return to me when you have completed your task." And at that, he turned to leave, leaving Aang standing stunned behind him.

"No wait!" Aang jumped above the spirit and intercepted it. "I have to know what's going on! You have to tell me!"

The owl sighed, obviously expecting that exact response.

"Not yet, focus on your quest, Avatar Aang. I cannot speak of the aliens with you." The owl spirit turned his head fully around.

"Ah, Professor Zei, perhaps you would like to greet an old acquaintance?" The owl asked as the echo of footsteps could be heard throughout the library. Then the spirit's head snapped back into position and he explained.

"Professor Zei has been helping me and my helpers renovate and maintain the library, even going through as much as replicating the older scriptures into new parchments. He has completely undermined my theory about mankind."

"Avatar Aang, a pleasure to see you!" The middle-aged professor emerged behind Wan Shi Tong's form, greeting Aang warmly.

"Professor Zei! I'm glad to see you're well." Aang said, bowing respectively.

"Avatar Aang, if you have no further questions, I will return to my affairs." Wan Shi Tong informed and spread his wings wide, about to take off.

"Wait! If you can't tell me about the aliens, tell me about the Earth Monsters!" Aang called, and Wan Shi Tong stilled.

"Very well, I hope you have brought knowledge to exchange for this information." The Owl Spirit reached out with his wing expectedly.

"Yes, I did." Aang pulled out three rather heavy books, labeled, 'Water', 'Earth' and 'Fire', "an eyewitness account of the Avatar's course to end the One Hundred Years War, written by me."

The owl seemed very pleased as it withdrew the tomes, "Wonderful, I am anxious to read them." Then he cleared his throat, "Very well, the Earth Monsters you speak of are not monsters at all." The owl hooted suddenly, and apparently out of nowhere, one of his foxy helpers arrived with a large scroll. Professor Zei rewarded the animal with a treat and then spread the scroll in front of Aang.

"They are Elementals, the Vengeance of the Planet." The owl explained, as Aang studied the scroll carefully, "They are bending spirits in a corporeal form. They are as versatile in power as humans are, and are very dangerous. There are not many accounts of them in history, and if there are, I am not aware of them. That is all I can tell you for sure, Avatar Aang."

Aang nodded slowly, taking in every word and analyzing it twice in his mind, this was not very illuminating, but at least now he had a better understanding of what they were, even though he had no idea why they were assisting the aliens.

"Thank you, Wan Shi Tong. I'll come back once I've completed my quest." Aang knew it was futile to ask the owl to tell him more, he was about to turn and leave, but he noticed Professor Zei was staring at him curiously.

"You've grown much Aang." The elder said fondly, "And you've done many amazing things, or so I've heard."

"I… guess," Aang said, rubbing the back of his head slowly as a twinge of guilt passed through him. "I'm sorry we left you here professor…" He started apologetically, but the elder simply raised his weathered hand to shush him.

"I did not want to leave. Besides, it was for the best, Wan Shi Tong was so impressed with my thirst for knowledge that he had regained faith in the human race… but not before several years. I suppose you must be going now, but you must come back and have a chat with me one day."

Aang nodded, speaking through a smile, "Of course professor, I'd love to."

000

"So what did the giant owl say?" Sokka asked as Aang landed on Appa's back with his uncanny agility.

"He said those Earth Monsters were Elementals, but that's about it. He said that if I come back later he might know more about the aliens. So once we gather everyone, we should stop there." Aang was lying, he felt terrible about it. In fact, he didn't even know why he was lying. He just couldn't bring himself to tell him that the owl refused to tell him, the Avatar, the bridge between the real world and the Spirit World, the truth.

"Let's go, we have a long way before we reach the Fire Nation." Aang said, lifting off.

* * *

"Wake up guys." Aang called, and the three adventurers woke to a breathtaking view of blue waves shimmering with gold, the salty breeze of the ocean reached their noses as soon as they awoke, and the ocean breeze did much to make Toph seek warmth with Sokka. And there, silhouetted against the sunset, was the Fire Nation.

* * *

Author Notes: Sorry for the long wait and for the short chapter, but the military had me working hard, hah, well I hope you enjoy it. The next chapter will be much more interesting than this one I guarantee you…

Trivia: Gaia belongs to a different species of Badger Moles, Badger Moles in Omashu and Gaoling are bright brownish and with amber eyes, they belong to the native species of the Southern Earth Kingdom, since the Earth Kingdom is gigantic, the only other Badger-Mole species (which are rarer) lives on the other side. Usually black coated and with bright red or lavender eyes. Major Massacre had found Gaia as a boy and took care of her since, she was one of the reasons he excelled during the war with the Fire Nation.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Sokka sprung to his legs, and leaned over the edge of Appa's saddle to look at the great capital of the Fire Nation, anticipation clouding his face in a sort of clustered joyfulness.

"We're one step closer…" He said excitedly, looking at the gleaming lights of the far off city, his arm grasped by his now blinded wife, who seemed to draw comfort from him at these times where she was indeed, truly blind.

Suki was apathic; she sat leaned against the saddle in her corner, examining her hands thoroughly, almost, Aang gulped, as though she was trying to determine what color the blood on them would be.

"Aang…" Toph suddenly called out, too loudly in the Avatar's opinion, but then, she had no way of telling how far he was from her, so he understood her. "I'm not so sure about this all of the sudden. It might be a trap."

"What do you mean Toph?" The monk looked back at the concerned woman; her brow was furrowed slightly as she tried to find the words to explain herself.

"I, well Gaius didn't strike me as someone to give up so easily. Earthbender to Earthbender, you know what it takes to be one. Determination, stubbornness, bull headedness even. I don't think Gaius would have run away like he did if he didn't know there was a surefire plan B." She theorized slowly, every word was considered, careful. Her resemblance to Katara in the time Aang had spent with her since he had come to pick her up has astounded him more than once. Where once she would leap into the heat of battle, now she was careful, considered, and maternal just as Aang remembered Katara back in the days of the war.

This abrupt change in Toph's attitude obviously came from the loss of her daughter, and even though Aang was very uncomfortable with it, he accepted it. But this was too un-Toph-like in his opinion.

"Look Toph," He said calmingly, "We can't be just stay scared forever. If we were always cautious, we would never have stopped Ozai. I know that it's hard, the thought of losing someone you caring about, as we both have, but think of what might happen if we don't take that chance. Think of Kanna, think of Hope and the Dai Li, think of your brother and your family, if we keep on stopping, they might be lost. Gaius is still out there, and he won't be stopped until we gather up everyone."

Toph bit her lower lip, to avoid responding bluntly to what Aang had just said, but it burst out of her anyway, "Easy for you to speak, Mr. Detachment. You have no physical connections to this world, I do. And I love them very much. I can't let them get hurt, no matter what."

"Exactly, use that drive to protect your family, your love for fighting, these things don't go away. You're just holding them back; fearing for Sokka will not stop him from fighting, just as him fearing for you won't stop you from fighting." Aang argued shrewdly, gazing into her blind eyes.

"You numbskull, I'm not just scared for Snoozels here, I'm scared for you! Like it or not, everyone always wants _**you**_, if we go down there, and we're beaten, you'll be their target, not us."

Appa let out a strange roar, and Aang understood why in a moment, as the city drew closer, and the silhouette turned into shades, lights and figures. The walls were packed with guards and Firebenders, some in strange blue armor. They all turned to the Flying Bison, one pointed, and the guards began passing on the message, shouting so that everyone could hear. The Avatar had come… to save them?

As the guard captains yelled for their underlings to allow the bison to land, Aang noticed the metropolis sprawling before him; people packed the streets, the sideways, and the alleys, everywhere. A sudden flashback of Ba Sing Se during the war came to him. What was going on?

The Bison landed on a large area in front of the Fire Nation's magnificent palace, setting down with a rumble. As Aang and his friends dismounted, guards hurried to rush them to the palace, shoving them roughly, patting them on the back To Toph's great dismay; one rude guard took to pinching her annoyingly on her backside, resulting in a stone spire sending the offender spiraling off in the distance.

As the four entered the palace, many of the guards left them, but instead a pair of blue armored soldiers led them through the gigantic corridors of the building. Aang noticed that these soldiers now decorated the corridors, and the royal guards, dressed in the traditional red clothing were now few and far in between. It seemed it was a state of transition between them and the new elites in blue uniform. They looked no different than any Firebending soldiers Aang had seen in the war, except that they were wearing blue armor, and on their chest was the insignia of a dragon.

Finally, the four was led through a door to a large waiting room, where there were four entrances, two from each side, one through which the four came in, and one on the far side of the room. The door was large, made by ornate wood, with draconic decorations and serpent-like adornments. It was the entrance to the throne room of the fire nation. Four more blue-clad guards entered the room from behind the four.

Aang began to wonder what this rush was. They barely had time to breathe since they landed, and they were being shoved hence and forth rapidly, forcefully… He guessed his questions would be answered when a lone figure stepped into the room from a sideways entrance, and suddenly the four were grasped from behind by the blue clad Firebenders.

"Well, well…" The woman spoke steadily, brushing a bang of dark brown hair away from her face. She had changed much over the years, her hair, once cropped into a top knot completely, was now too long for that, and went down to her chin regardless of the flame-shaped knot on top of her scalp. Her eyes studied them mischievously as she entered, her short, sleeveless blue garbs hung loosely on her, as though she was expecting a battle at any moment.

The Princess of the Fire Nation smiled lopsidedly at the party, pointing straight at Aang's chest.

"Guards, arrest the Avatar." She said softly, and Aang gasped, Toph and Sokka both seemed ready to shake off their guards if need be, but awaited Aang's command, Suki however, seemed as though nothing of interest has happened, and stood still.

"Azula! Let us speak to Zuko!" Aang demanded.

"Oh, I'm afraid Fire Lord Zuko is… not available at the moment." She said, laughing evilly, and as Aang's face contorted in rage, he noticed her laugh was more than just evil, it was maniacal. She was cracking up in front of them, holding her stomach and doubling over, laughing hysterically and pointing at them.

Aang looked backwards at the blue clad guard as the latter let him go, even though he couldn't see his expression past the closed blue Firebender helmet; he knew the guard was looking at him apologetically.

"You should have seen your faces!" Azula laughed, "Oh wow that was worth it all…" She kept laughing and all of the guards in the room shifted uncomfortably, apparently familiar with her twisted sense of humor.

"You and your stupid jokes Azula, we're on an urgent mission!" Sokka yelled, his voice laden with anger as he stepped forwards and gestured in protest.

"You're here to free us from the Fire Beasts, I know." She said, now dead serious, laughing time was over. "We'd better go and see Zuko."

"Wait, Fire Beasts?" Aang asked, and Azula, who was in the middle of a march to the throne room halted completely. She turned her head slowly towards Aang and stared at him in disbelief.

"You don't know about the Fire Beasts?"

Toph looked at Aang concernedly, though Aang understood what Azula meant full well even without her meaningful look. It made sense now, an alien Earthbender had Earth Elementals… so the Fire Elementals would be with…

"There's another alien, a Firebender." He said, his eyes narrowing in rage. "Then there are five of them, one for each element, and the non bender. That's what the vision meant."

Azula tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrow, "Aliens?"

"Look, let's go see Zuko, we'll explain everything there." Aang said, and Azula shrugged, turning around and heading towards the gigantic red doors.

* * *

It sprinted forwards, its crimson, sleeveless, robe fluttering as it sped. The army was self sufficient now, and its target had arrived earlier than expected. Gaius had not succeeded; he had held himself back too much.

It had already gotten past the outer walls of the city, and was now sprinting through the large stone courtyard outside of the palace walls. It made sure as to stop all of the guards from letting out it was there, it needed the small amount of discretion until it reached the inner walls of the palace.

As it expected, a large patrol of Firebenders was in its path, two of them, in fact. They spotted him, and in the wink of an eye they dropped and opened fire. About three dozen fireballs shot at the massive creature as it sped forwards. It smiled, fangs glistening in light of the fire. It jumped high in the air, revolving in it, sending a crescent of blue flames at the incoming fireballs, and continuing its sprint as it landed.

The fireballs, once encountered with the blades of flame, turned blue themselves, but even more than that, they turned backwards, heading towards their source and at once knocking three dozen Firebenders to the ground. The blue armored patrol leaders were the only ones standing, countering the blue flames with blue flames of their own. They both took a backwards step and sunk into another combative stance, moving their hands in semi-circles, electricity trailing after their pointing fingers. And as one the two elites drew their back leg forwards, shooting forwards two closing bolts of lightning.

The lizardine alien stretched forwards its hands and spun in place as the lightning struck it, the lightning circling him as a hungry serpent. But as the twist was completed, the alien's hands shot forwards once more, this time sending the lightning forwards, striking the two guards and throwing them in the air, gravely injured.

To any human eye, it would seem that the alien had merely spun in place when the lightning connected, but in fact, it caught the lightning in its hands, and as it turned it redirected it from each hand to the other, guiding it safely out of his body and at the attackers, all of that through one quick spin, which gave him the exact range of movement it needed to transfer the lightning through its body.

The move of catching two separate bolts of lightning with both hands was nearly always lethal, since it was next to impossible to transfer the lightning throughout the body without a collision between the two bolts, something which would result in a burst of energy easily blowing the bender away. Therefore there was no doubting the skill this alien had.

It continued its sprint, the walls of the Fire Nation's capital now towered in front of it, a small group of blue armored benders spotted it and opened fire, one blue fireball after another, all redirected in swift kicks and strikes by the alien. As the benders prepared themselves for another volley, the alien stretched its arms backwards and a massive jet of flame appeared, propelling it forwards and incredible speed, as it approached the benders it dropped to the floor on its hands, its legs flat in the air, hands holding its body up. And it spun on its hands, moving forwards as its legs sent blade after blade of blue flames at the helpless Firebenders, sending them to the ground writhing. As finally the last of the blue armored benders was on the ground, the creature pushed itself in the air and landed on its legs once more. They were much slower, inadaptable, they had much to learn.

And then, with feline agility it jumped slightly in the air, its body becoming parallel to the ground, as a volley of arrows aimed at its knees and head sailed past it. They were using arrows, primitive machinations of war.

The creature landed on its feet and swerved aside to avoid another volley of arrows that would have otherwise embedded themselves in its chest, the next volley was incinerated by a fiery wall appearing in front of the alien bender, trailing after the swatting hand, disintegrating both arrow and shaft in a blazing white flame.

The alien's advance finally stopped about thirty feet away from the wall, when the arrows were joined by scores of fireballs, fiery discs of flame and blazing small fires shot in a spread-fire formation. The bender stopped in place, sliding on the road slightly and drawing both hands backwards to its left side, it concentrated as the enemy fire kept closing in on it, and at last separated its hands, one stationary at its side, the palm facing up, and the other moving in a semi circle around its body, creating an immense wave of flame in its wake, spreading from the one hand and expanding in the air, growing in size and intensity, to anyone standing on the wall it must've been awe inspiring, to see the massive blazing blade of sapphire flames spreading at them. The intensity of the technique instantly consumed the opposing attacks and knocked the entire garrison of Firebenders and Yu Yen archers off the wall, even going as far past the wall for the frightened citizens of the Fire Nation to see.

The creature then resumed its sprint undisturbed, reaching several feet before the wall, before a massive jet of flame appeared beneath it, hurling it high in the air above the wall, where it sent a number of aerial kicks, each producing a brilliant blue streak aimed at the Nation's palace.

The flames crashed into the palace's walls one after the other, blowing off large chunks of the structure and causing it to tremble in spite of the magnificent architectural stability intended in its construction.

* * *

Azula struggled to regain her balance, leaning against the giant doors.

"What was that?" She asked, turning rapidly and beginning to walk rapidly towards the exit.

"We're under attack!" Toph called, and the five drew tense, the alien knew they had arrived. It had come for them and from the sounds of it, it brought an army along.

"Duh, Rock-Head," Azula said to Toph's annoyance, then she spoke to one of the guards, "Gather the rest of the Blue Dragons and head to the courtyard, we'll get them there… Try to keep Zuko out of the loop for as long as you can."

"Yes Mistress." The blue armored Firebender responded and left the room through one of the side doors.

"You four are coming with me." Azula always had a way to order around people just as powerful as she was, or more powerful than she was. And Aang thought he understood her plan well enough to cooperate, though Toph merely made a rude gesture at the Firebender before following his lead and joining her.

The four quickly got to the courtyard, where the creature was successfully struggling against two blue armored guards, having already defeated the dozen others it fought.

The lizard jumped and sent an aerial kick at the defending guards, striking both their helmets powerfully and sending them helpless to the ground.

Aang stared at the mighty creature, indeed it was one of the aliens, but it was completely unlike Gaius. Dark Crimson scales formed the creature's outer layer, each of them laid out diagonally, unlike Gaius' straight square-like scales. These scales also appeared sharper, more triangular than Gaius'.

This alien was just as gigantic as Gaius was, muscles bulged through the layer of scales, and a ridge of spikes adorned the creature's forehead. When Aang looked at the forehead of the creature he had also noticed the bright golden eyes the creature had, burning in a fiery golden glow, determined, and calculated, but not cold.

Toph punched him painfully on the shoulder, and as he turned to her she pointed upwards, where a black robed and hooded person was standing, for a mere moment. For in the next one, the person vanished without a trace.

Aang heard Azula swear, and as he looked to her he saw she was looking at the hooded person's direction as well. She then proceeded to attack the creature, stopping several feet in front of it and sending jabs forwards, sending blue fireballs at it, which it dodged easily despite its size. It began an assault of its own, sending a hip kick at Azula, then landing the kicking leg in front of it, as a fire-ball shot forwards, causing a small wave of flame to speed at the Fire Princess from the ground, and he finished the move with an aerial spin-kick, also sending a crescent of flame at the female Firebender.

Azula sent forwards a blade of her own, cutting upwards with her hand, her flame causing the two initial attacks to dissipate, but the third and most powerful attack had passed her defense, and she was forced to drop to the ground, a move which the creature anticipated, because in the next moment it jumped in the air, performing the signature Firebending move of an upwards drop kick, however, instead of causing a small flame to erupt where it landed, it instead sent a massive shockwave of flame to burn through the courtyard in Azula's direction.

A stone wall suddenly rose in front of the alarmed Fire Princess, but the force of the shockwave smashed it, at which point the figure of a bald monk appeared in front of her, blowing away the flame with a skillful Airbending move.

The creature smiled once more, and shot forwards, sprinting at the Avatar and propelling itself with small jets of flame which appeared when its legs disconnected from the ground. However, as the Avatar sunk into a defensive position, he realized the alien was not even aiming for him.

The lizardine creature swerved sideways a certain distance before the Avatar, and in a brilliant burst of flame it reached straight at Toph, and before she even had time to defend herself it passed her, grabbing her leg by the tail, and using its momentum to hurl her across the vast greenery, straight at the palace walls, letting go of her, it turned to defend against an onslaught of slashes from Sokka, the scales on its arms protruding outwards, their triangular shape making them as sharp spikes.

With a loud clang, Sokka's blades met the lizard's scales, which were tougher than he would have wagered. Possibly made that way for self defense, as the two warriors withdrew and locked once more, Sokka swore, leaving his machetes he dropped downwards, drawing his boomerang in hopes of preceding the alien in attacking. However the alien was far quicker, in a swift movement, it freed the machetes from its arms and somersaulted over the tribesman, landing on his other side and sending a backwards kick at him, sending him nose-first into a tree.

The creature then had to dodge an air blast from Aang, it swerved sideways and jumped as an air crescent sailed at him, as it landed once more it sent three precise fire attacks at Aang's shoulders and stomach, Aang formed a circle in the air with his hands – each hand moving in a different direction, clockwise and counter-clockwise – and the air shield he made was more then sufficient to block the attacks.

Meanwhile, the raging Fire Princess charged forwards at the creature, sending fireball after fire-blade at it in hurried fury, which the creature effortlessly blocked.

It dodged another of Aang's air blasts, before it performed a double attack, landing it's strong foot forwards and sending its arms at both Azula and Aang, electricity trailing after them as they moved. A moment later, two bolts of lightning shot at Aang and Azula, both of which dodged sideways to avoid the deadly attacks.

However, the creature had also fired another attack unnoticed, when it landed its strong foot forwards, it sent a small unnoticed wave of flame at Azula's approximate direction, and as she moved to dodge the lightning it tripped her, straight into the alien's arms.

It kicked a large blue Fireball at her, sending her crashing and rolling on the ground away from it, unconscious.

Aang did not remain silent at this, seeing that both Toph and Sokka were out, Toph being fainted against the palace's wall, and Sokka grasping his broken, bleeding nose in his hands, he charged forwards, spinning his arms as windmills in front of him. The air it made gathered around the monk's hands as small tornadoes, and as the Avatar sent them forwards angrily the attacks knocked the alien straight into the inner courtyard's wall.

Reaching in front of Azula's limp form, Aang took up a defensive position. Watching as the alien straightened up and took its offensive pose. He was more than ready to counter any of the alien's Fireballs or Fire Blades, but he did not anticipate the creature's next move. Several feet in front of Aang, the alien stopped, stretching both arms backwards and after taking a deep inhale, spitting out nothing less then brilliant cerulean colored flames.

Aang gasped and dropped forwards to block the incoming flames, hands stretched forwards. The intensity of the attack burned his hands, but he managed to keep the flames back, except that slowly, he felt himself being pushed backwards by the intense flames. He wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.

Fortunately for him, there was another exceptional Firebender nearby, a very powerful one at that. In royal red robes the figure charged at the alien's side, sending three kicks in a quick Kata and then two fists forwards at the creature, all of which shooting intense azure flames at the creature, forcing it to stop its attack and defend.

As the black haired man faced the alien, Aang shook his burning hands. Watching his ally in appreciation, but what did more to light his face, the fire burning in the courtyard or Zuko's very own anger, he did not know. The scarred face stretched into a smile however, as Aang caught much movement in the corner of his eyes. Black robed and hooded persons appeared from everywhere in the courtyard, escorted by bright blue-armored soldiers. Even one of the aliens couldn't face such impossible odds, an army of Firebenders, the Fire Lord, and the Avatar.

It was to Aang's great surprise then, that the creature seemed to be considering just that. When suddenly, a folded wooden fan hit its head dead on, sending it off balance, and giving the Firebenders the opening they needed.

No less than fifty fireballs were shot at the alien, and no less than that number were deflected by a massive dome of flame the creature created, stretching its arms to its sides.

A sudden idea came to Aang as the creature sunk into another defensive position; he hoped he was right, for the alternative would surely lead to bloodshed.

"Airbenders, to me!" He screamed backwards, seemingly at someone behind him, the alien's eyes immediately locked upon him.

Suki dropped from the tree she was on, right behind the alien Firebender; she drew a fan and her shield, ready to slay the ally of the creature which killed her husband. However the alien had seemingly lost its wish to fight at that moment. It quickly drew backwards, moving its arms in a backwards circle, before launching them upwards, sending a massive fireball into the air.

The fiery ball reached slightly past the courtyard's wall before it exploded into many smaller fireballs, which rained down upon the Firebenders, who moved to defend from them at once, Suki raised her shield in the air to protect herself from one of the Fireballs and closed her eyes against the heat.

But when she opened them once more, the alien was gone.

Aang looked around, the hooded persons stood where they were for a moment, and instantly began to leave, leaving only the blue armored soldiers, and the Fire Lord.

"I suppose this was your welcoming party." Zuko spoke slowly, turning around towards Aang, he hadn't changed much at all through the years. He had indeed grown taller, as tall as Aang himself, and his hair had become longer, but he did not allow himself a prestigious beard, or anything of the sort, so that his figure was very much the same as it was twenty five years ago, minus the frown creases on his forehead.

"So welcome to the Fire Nation… Avatar."

* * *

Author Notes: Hey there, sorry for the LONG wait, the military, besides keeping me for entire weeks at a time, also tends to stifle my creativity. Hope the action scenes were good enough, and don't worry, you'll see much more of the Firebending alien before they leave the Fire Nation.

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	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The group of five was now gathered in the Fire Lord's massive throne room, Zuko sitting on top of the elevated structure serving as his throne, the flames on its sides burning peacefully.

"I see." He said, considering the facts Aang had just relayed to him. "That would explain many things…" He sighed, "After I've finally decided to reconstruct the Deliverance… only so that the alien's meteor could crash into it."

Aang quirked an eyebrow, "But I thought the Deliverance was your ship?"

"True, but back in the old days, Zhao reported it to have had a… malfunction, I never bothered to correct the archives…"

He sighed deeply again, "I'll need time to consider the… possible implications of this." The Fire Lord said through intertwined fingers. "Please, feel free to tour the palace and city for now."

"Consider? But Fire Lord Zuko," Azula turned to her brother, but the rest of her argument never got to leave her mouth.

"I said I will consider it Azula, perhaps you should consider some things as well, such as your place." Zuko cut her off coldly, she sent him a strange glare before bowing her head respectfully.

Aang did not fail to notice the tension between the two siblings, but he did not comment on it.

"Come back at dusk, I promise I'll have an answer by then." He assured the group.

"Zuko look, we need you, the world needs you. If you don't come with us, all four nations will be overrun with the armies those aliens are making. You've seen how powerful they are, we need you on our side." Aang pleaded, but Zuko's gaze remained constant, and his lips sealed.

"Come on Aang, we'll come back later, Zuko knows what he's doing." Toph promised Aang, gently gripping his shoulders as she pulled him backwards.

The four left, Sokka sending Zuko quite a nasty look before they did, Azula followed them slowly as they turned to exit, looking stoically at the marble floor. But as they entered the four entranced waiting room she closed the door behind her and leaned on it wearily, holding her forehead with the bridge between her thumb and her index finger, and also casting a shadow over her eyes.

"Are you okay Azula?" Aang asked, taking a few steps closer, but Azula cringed away from him, quickly moving sideways and faking her normal self.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. As Fire Lord Zuko said, you should return later… Go tour the city or something." She began to walk away from the group, heading towards the entrance she came through earlier.

"We'd love to have a guide." Aang suddenly suggested, Toph rolled her eyes, she expected it from Aang. But quite frankly she never did like Azula that much; she never could quite forgive her for betraying Iroh and nearly killing Aang. Or maybe it was something else which bothered her about Azula, she was never clear on that.

"I… I'm busy." Azula stuttered but before she could react, Aang was upon her, grasping her arm and pulling her along.

"Come on, we can't do it without you." He said cheerily, even despite the fact that the city was practically besieged by the enemy.

"Look, I know what you're doing," Azula shook his hand off hers, "I don't need your sympathy now, we're in the middle of the war. There's no time for friendship in war." At that the princess promptly stormed through the door, leaving Aang and the others behind.

"That's where you've always been wrong!" Aang called after her, "There's always time for friendship."

Aang took a look at the guards, who stood solemnly, looking into a spot opposite of them without any indication that they've even been aware of the events taking place in front of them.

"Come on Aang, I think we should go and see how bad things are here, might give us a clue as to how bad it is back in the Earth Kingdom." Sokka said, leading the way out of the room.

The group walked through the massive marble corridors, Suki remaining disturbingly silent throughout it. Aang had rather got the impression that she was mad at him, for not being able to avenge Haru. He didn't blame her, she was distraught, she needed time to settle down.

As they walked past a door Aang heard a sliver of a conversation between two generals. He stopped and listened intently as he caught what they were talking about.

"The messenger to the Water Tribe hasn't returned, neither did the one we sent to the northern Air Temple, the only one who returned was from the Earth Kingdom." One of the aged generals said.

"And, what news did he bring?" The other asked.

"Dire, here, listen…" The man began reading the message, "To the Fire Lord, up until we received your message, we did not know how severe the situation was. For we ourselves have sent messengers in hopes of assistance from you, which – I assume – have perished. The Earth Kingdom is under constant attack by things our scholars identified as Earth Elementals. With no news of the Land Legion so far, our armies are in chaos, as our enemies surely planned. We wish you great luck in your war, and we hope it goes better than ours, may the Planet save us." The general finished reading grievously.

As Toph approached him to see why he was lagging behind, Aang quickly moved forwards to join her. He couldn't let her find out how bad it was back in the Earth Kingdom. She didn't have to worry, not now.

"I thought I saw someone I knew," He excused himself, "Turned out it was someone else."

Toph nodded, he tried to mask the lie from her, but he knew she'd suspect regardless of his heart-rate and breathing, because she always seemed to know everything about him.

They joined the others just as they reached the exit to the palace, and Sokka began to talk to them.

"With luck, Zuko will join us and we'll be out of her by tomorrow, though I hate to leave the Fire Nation this… hey!" He said as he collided into someone, stumbling backwards, "Can't you watch where you're, Ty Lee?"

A girlish squeak came from in front of Sokka, as the tall and curvy woman wrapped him in a hug.

"Sokka, Aang, Toph!" She called out happily, charging at each in turn and squeezing them.

"And uh..?" She asked as she looked at Suki, still squeezing Toph as much as she could.

"Suki, I'm one of the Kyoshi warriors you took the clothes from back in the war…" The female warrior replied rather coldly, but Ty Lee simply looked at her uncomfortably and turned back to the others.

"Guys I want you to meet someone! This is my cousin, Lyla." She said, gesturing behind her to another woman.

Neither Aang nor Sokka could describe her as anything other than "a woman sexier than Ty Lee herself." And seeing as Ty Lee was as fit as ever, if not more, with added curves and volume in certain places, and not to mention her acrobatic agility, this indeed said a lot.

The woman was tall, slender and fit, with all of the right curves, it seemed as though her body was made to be stared at, she moved with the same grace as a feline creature, fluidly, elegantly.

Her face however, in contrast with her body, seemed very young, teenager-like even, as it was covered with freckles, and her smile had girlish dimples, giving her the look of a young girl in her teens. She surveyed the group with chocolate eyes, and moved a bang of bright brown hair from her eyes before she greeted them.

"I've heard much about you, it's an honor to finally meet you." The woman bowed slightly, before moving to shake their hands, studying Aang with much interest and Sokka with even more, Toph received no less attention than her husband from Lyla, but there was a distinct tension between them for some reason.

"Lyla ran with me to the circus, we used to perform together as acrobats, but when the war started escalating, she joined in, being a Firebender." Ty Lee told, with a reminiscent glow in her eyes.

"So you were in the war?" Toph asked rather bluntly, and Lyla nodded, sparkling a flame between her fingers and juggling it over each finger in turn as she spoke.

"Nothing of a fighting nature, I was a healer in the ninth division, until we were attacked by the fourth and ninth battalions of the Earth Kingdom, part of what you now call the Land Legion." Lyla observed their faces as she spoke, "I was forced to protect the medical tents, and I did so skillfully, since my style of fighting incorporates my acrobatic abilities, the benders had no chance, and most fell before they even realized I was there. My commander saw this and instantly made me an intelligence officer." The woman smiled seductively, but there was something else in that smile… Or at least that's what it seemed to Sokka.

He observed her features, when she suddenly blinked, her eyes turning completely gold, her garbs turned solidly white, and with incredible speed she launched a fiery attack at him. Before he even had time to defend himself he was struck and thrown over the entrance into the hallway, dragging slightly on the floor.

"Sokka!" He heard the call through shut eyes, closed against the pain, which Sokka noticed has never arrived. Has he died?

He opened his eyes slowly, looking up at the wondering and concerned faces of Aang, Toph and Ty Lee.

"Sokka are you alright?" Toph asked quickly, kneeling besides her husband and hoisting him up to a sitting position.

"What was that? You must've flown ten feet!" Aang asked, also crouching next to him.

"It was Lyla! She was that lizard… the Firebender…" Sokka said, breathing quickly, and being surprised at his friends' surprised expressions.

"What are you talking about Sokka? Lyla didn't touch you, and she's most certainly not a lizard!" Ty Lee said indignantly. Gesturing at Lyla, who was standing next to Suki, trying to figure out what or who attacked Sokka.

"She didn't move Sokka." Toph said, and in Sokka's mind it was sealed, Toph could sense a termite move a mile away, so if she says Lyla didn't move, then she didn't move.

"There was no Firebending either." Aang concentrated, "But hold on, can you repeat what you saw?"

"I saw Lyla," Sokka said, calming down slightly as the two female warriors came shrugging towards the group. "She was smiling, and then her eyes turned gold, like that lizard, and her clothes were white…" Ty Lee's eyes went agape, whether out of wonder or fascination, and she looked back at Lyla, who for some strange reason nodded at her, probably giving an 'all clear'.

"Then she shot fire at me, and I was knocked backwards." Sokka concluded, rubbing his sore head.

Aang looked at Sokka seriously, and stood up, "It's probably nothing, we should just go and relax. Ty Lee and Lyla, won't you join us for a spin around the city?" Toph and Sokka exchanged glances, it was absolutely not like Aang to avoid something like that, it was as though nothing had happened. Toph suspected something, but didn't say anything then.

"There's no point in going to the city now, it's filled to the brim with refugees, with might have to house them in the palace soon at this rate. Let's go to the royal tea house instead." Lyla stated, beginning to walk towards said location.

"Why is it filled with fugitives? How many cities have the elementals taken?" Toph asked, helping her husband up and walking up to the two women, Suki in tow.

"All that's left of our once mighty Fire Nation is one strong fortress on the other side of the continent. We don't know how long they'll last." Lyla said seriously, walking gracefully.

"How did this happen?" Aang asked in alarm, "How did they cause that much damage this quickly?"

"Simply put, the war wiped out seventy percent of our armies, and most of our strongholds were abroad. In twenty five years we raised few warriors, due to our new peaceful role. Even fewer than that answered the call to arms when the elementals attacked." Lyla explained, "By the time we figured out how to stop them, we were overrun. Fire only feeds them, and every one we take down with water or sand is just raised back by his comrades. So the only battles we won were by taking out such a large number of them at once so that the ones that were left couldn't raise enough before they were wiped out." She spoke deliberately, "For that reason, we sent the Blue Dragons to battle… With disastrous results."

"Blue Dragons?" Aang asked, clearly unacquainted with the name.

"Azula's troops, the new royal guard," Sokka said, and Lyla nodded.

"Hand picked and trained by the Fire Princess Azula, all of them are capable of the most advanced techniques of Firebending, including Blue Firebending and manifesting Lightning." Lyla elaborated, "During the years after the war their numbers have swollen, as Sei Jin's theory predicted – every generation of benders is more powerful than the last. And to this day they stand in impressive numbers all over the Fire Nation. However, as soon as we began military action, we were faced with their leader…"

"The lizard?" Sokka asked, but Lyla shook her head.

"No, it was one of them, an elemental, its strategy was unmatched. He began drying up lakes, pools and every source of water he could find. Leaving us nearly defenseless, then the way to the cities and villages was clear to him. He took the agricultural settlements first, to cut off our food supply, then our major cities and even our port cities. The Capitol remains the last port city in the Fire Nation." The Firebender closed her eyes. "We sent messengers everywhere we could, but none came back." She finished.

"How do you know so much?" Toph asked, staring at the beautiful brunette, who smiled.

"Lyla's an intelligence officer, remember?" Ty Lee interjected, "We work together to help Fire Lord Zuko gather information."

The group finally reached the tea house which was rather dark, lit by candles. The walls were adorned with various curtains and cloth in vibrant reddish colors all around them were low, round tables, surrounded by pillows. The tables were decorated with green and red dragons and the pillows had the Fire Nation's emblem embroidered on them in black and gold linings. In the edges of the round tent-like structure, were more private tables, separated from the main room by veils acting as doors and walls. In the far corner from the exit was a specifically large one, reserved for the Fire Lord himself.

Currently, the tea house was empty except for the many servants, all of the nobles and generals being busy with warfare. The group was shown to an honorary table on the left of the room by a pink-garbed servant, and as they sat another hurried to bring a round metal plate with six different pitchers on it, each carrying a different kind and blend of tea. Then came a third servant with tea-cups, sparkly clean and carrying the Fire Nation's emblem on them.

"So Avatar, are you here to assist us and rid us of these invaders at last?" Lyla asked after a sip of Ginseng.

"Well, yes, I'm supposed to get Zuko and go to the Air Nomads…" Aang said, to which both Ty Lee and Lyla gulped painfully.

"What?" Both asked at once, Aang looked at them defensively and tried to explain himself, but both cut across him. "We're losing a war and you want to take our leader?"

"But it's to stop those things! That's what I have to do!" Aang argued, assuming he would be backed by the others. However Sokka said something unexpected.

"Uh, I hate to say it Aang, but you're going on this quest to stop the aliens, not the elementals."

"What?" Aang asked, shocked at what Sokka said, "But they're working with each other!"

"You don't know that, just because Gaius had two with him, it doesn't mean they're really related. They might just share a purpose. Or those might have been golems rather than elementals." Toph pointed out.

Aang couldn't believe what he was hearing, they've fought them together, fought Gaius together, faced him down and beat him, and after getting this far, his friends were questioning him?

"Who's Gaius?" Lyla asked quickly, and Toph quickly explained.

"We've found no proof that they're even related to each other. Actually, when you arrived it was the first time we've ever even seen that alien." The Firebender said, taking a long sip from her tea.

The group sat in a long silence, no one wanting to speak, but wanting to do something with their hands, so they all just drank their tea quietly.

"Maybe the aliens are just meant for us, and the elementals are meant to conquer?" Aang asked, "Either way, we'll never find out if I don't take Zuko with me." He added before he could be contradicted.

"Did you talk to him about this?" Ty Lee asked, and Aang nodded. "Then he'll know what to do. I'm sure he will."

"So you two performed together?" Sokka asked to break a tense silence following Ty Lee's words.

"Yeah, we grew up together; we were almost inseparable when we were young. We used to do everything together, well until I met Azula, then we'd do almost everything together, since they didn't get along well." Ty Lee recounted.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another Tea Shop in the Fire Nation, a large figure, wearing a black cloak and hood sat down for a drink.

"Hey there," One of the waitresses asked the patron, a rather young and cute woman, with delicate skin and bright red hair tied in an elaborate ponytail. "How can I serve you today?"

"Could you be so kind and prepare some tea for me please?" The person asked in a hoarse, gruff voice.

The woman observed his attire and smiled, "Of course I could, and since you asked so nicely, it's on the house."

"Then I insist you join me for a drink." The person said, making the woman blush slightly, "It's the least I can do." The person added.

"I suppose I could…" The woman said, scurrying off to get the tea. When she returned she promptly sat down, serving the tea.

"This seems a great place." The stranger commented, and the waitress nodded.

"It is, it has some history too. The person who originally founded this place is a general. One of the most esteemed ones." The Waitress told enthusiastically.

"Please tell me more…" The person said, leaning forwards with interest, as she continued.

"Well, he's one of the more powerful ones; rumor is he tied an Agni Kai with Princess Azula herself! He lives above the tea shop, he's here now, getting some things before returning to the royal palace," The waitress said excitedly.

"Thank you, your company has been wonderful." The person said, yet remained seated.

Suddenly, the smell of smoke filled the waitress' nose, and screams of panic were heard. The shop was on fire. The patrons and staff began to scream out, the fire, originating from around the table the person was sitting spread far too quickly to be a natural fire. As they fled towards the door, all were blocked by a wall of blue flames.

"What are you doing?" The waitress screamed at the hooded person, "You'll kill us all! What kind of person are you?" The fire around them grew in intensity and began turning blue, as the entire building was engulfed by it.

The person remained seated calmly, "I'm not a person at all." He said, and instantly the building exploded in a brilliant white flame, collapsing upon itself and burning.

From the rubble, the only thing which remained was the cloaked person, sitting at a half burned table. He rose from it and began to walk away, golden eyes gleaming under the hood. He looked once back at the burning tea house, and continued walking; no human would have survived that explosion. It was a lucky fact then, that he wasn't human.

* * *

Zuko sat in his throne room, the fiery wall in front of it burning contemplatively as he considered his options. It was a hard decision for him to make, but then, it was obvious to him what his decision would be the moment Aang explained the situation to him. He was always rather distanced from the Avatar and his friends, more so in recent years. But it was by no fault of theirs, but by his decision. The scars of the last war have not healed, and he was left with tremendous guilt as to his part in the Fire Nation's invasion. This was his chance to redeem himself, his chance to prove to himself most of all that he was one of the good guys, the ones who…

"Lost in thought again?" A dull yet amused feminine voice asked, as the Fire Lady joined her husband in the throne room.

"Yes, you've heard what the Avatar said, the world's fate is at stake, the Fire Nation's fate, our fate." The royally garbed Firebender said, and his wife sat down in his lap, leaning backwards on the wide back of the throne.

"I have a feeling you've already made up your mind." She said with a small smile, and the Fire Lord nodded in agreement.

"Well then I don't see the dilemma," The raven haired woman said, her golden eyes surveying her husband seriously, "Maybe, like Ty Lee always says, you should just lighten up."

Zuko's frown turned upside down and he let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, you're probably right Mai…" He said, and the flames of the throne room lowered as the two shared a kiss.

* * *

Author Notes: Hey everyone, I'm sorry for not posting for so long. But there have been many complications which I'm sure you don't wish to hear.

However, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear I received the prestigious "Exemplary Soldier Award". And that I'm currently fine and safe. I'll be back earlier this week so hopefully I can cook up another chapter soon enough.

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Trivia:

Sei Jin's Theory is the bending equivalent to the Theory of Evolution. It was written by the scholar Sei Jin, who assumed that each generation of benders is more powerful than the last because it begins from a higher point of understanding. They are taught ancient wisdom as they learn to bend and discover more as they grow old, then the circle continues. Some claim this to be untrue, yet it is hard to argue with the logic.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Yeah, and then we hid the Ring Master's robes and the Platypus bear ate them!" Lyla continued the story, erupting into laughter with Ty Lee, "And he had to perform in his underwear!"

The group sitting around the tea table laughed heartily at the story, with the exception of Suki.

Ty Lee wiped some tears of laughter, "Those were the times…"

"Oh, remember when I told you the story about the Tempest?" Lyla asked, as a sudden memory streaked to her.

"Huh, yeah…" Ty Lee muttered, obviously she had rather hoped her cousin would have forgotten that story.

"When I told her the story she was so afraid, she wouldn't sleep if I wasn't with her in the room!" Lyla laughed, and Aang with her, though the others seemed rather puzzled.

"Who's the Tempest?" Toph inquired, and Aang's mouth went agape with amazement, for children of his age were practically raised on these stories.

"You don't know the Tempest?" He wondered, "He's only the most popular mythical Airbender in the world!"

"Yes, how could I forget?" Toph answered flatly.

"The Tempest was an Airbender, raised in the Northern Air Temple. From a young age he's shown a great deal of potential, and when he was only a child he managed to out-perform his master with his Airbending. When he was of age he petitioned the council of elders to become one of them, seeing as he was so powerful and skilled." Aang told.

"What did they say?" Sokka pressed, and at last Suki showed some interest in what was going on.

"They said he wasn't yet ready, that he should return to his studies, chores and practice. He didn't take it well, so he left them, and settled in a small village in the northern Earth Kingdom renouncing his bending. There he fell in love with one of the villagers."

"Terrifying." Toph commented, but was shushed by Sokka.

"One day, a group of bandits came to raid the town, they tried to kidnap her, but she struggled so hard, they killed her, he could have saved her, if only he used his bending."

Sokka gasped.

"Then they said something changed in him, he wasn't human anymore. He would spend entire days without leaving his home, and no one would see him. One night, he left, his Airbender robes were black with the grief of losing his love, and his face disappeared in the hood he wore, as the shadow of his guilt for not using his bending to save her.

"They say that the next morning, they found the entire group of bandits in the center of the village, beheaded. They say that to this day he wanders the planet, seeking to destroy young loves as his was." Aang finished darkly, eyeing the group seated around the table to see their reactions.

Sokka gulped, and Suki seemed more than impressed by the story, obviously somewhat sympathetic with the Tempest.

"She told me it was the Fire Nation who raided the village, and that the Tempest wants to take Fire Nation girls, like the Fire Nation took his love away." Ty Lee asserted, sending Lyla and accusing stare, to which the latter shrugged.

"No way, that story is by far older than the war; it's been around for hundreds of years, if not thousands." Aang dismissed, to which Lyla shrugged again.

"What about the story in which he carries the scythe which he used to cut off the bandits' heads?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yeah, I heard that too, not sure if it's true though."

Suddenly, the curtain to the private corner fluttered, as Aang's group looked to it, nothing was there. However someone was standing next to Lyla, who was sitting opposite to the curtains. It was another one of those men in black robes and hoods.

"General Sung was murdered just now." The person said, "People say they saw a black cloaked person leaving the wreckage."

"We're all accounted for," another person, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere on Lyla's other side said.

"It must've been either a Firebird or one of the invaders." The first spoke.

"Very well, we'll report in as soon as we finish here." Lyla said to the two, and both vanished in the shadows of the dimly lit teahouse. Once more the curtain fluttered, and all was silent.

"As you've heard, we need to go." Lyla stated matter-of-factly, gracefully rising from her seat. "It has been pleasurable; I'm looking forwards to the next time."

"See you later guys." Ty Lee said, and as the two before them, the two girls exited, leaving the group alone at the table.

The group waited around the table, not sure of whether they should wait or leave.

"So…" Sokka said after a while, "A scythe huh?"

The group stared at him with raised eyebrows.

* * *

"My lady…" A blue clad Firebender had entered the massive training hall, speaking to the woman sitting across it. Even though the distance between them was great, the woman heard his voice as though he was standing right next to her. She lifted herself up from the hard wood floor and turned to face her underling.

"Yes?" She asked in a tone that implied that whatever news the warrior brings, they had better be important.

"General Sung has been assassinated." The underling informed her, to which she closed her eyes, begging the spirits for patience.

"Do they know?" She asked.

"Yes my lady," The blue clad warrior answered tentatively.

"Carry on." She dismissed him rather crudely, turning back to her meditation. The guard instantly left, exiting the hall and closing shut the slide doors behind him.

"My lady…" A feminine voice said, emerging from a slender woman, who herself emerged seemingly out of nowhere.

She waved a brown bang for a casual impression, and folded her arms on her blue armored chest as she approached the Fire Princess.

Azula watched her lieutenant with some sort of relief; she was her friend and advisor, let alone her right hand woman.

The blue clad lady was thin and well tuned, muscles honed over years of training appearing gracefully in the exposed parts of her armor, and her beautiful face, seemingly painted by an artist at his peak, was amazingly calming like the splashing of the tide against the sandy shore.

Her long eyelashes fluttered charmingly as she blinked, her brown tinted eyes were emphasized by them, giving her the perfect look of a temptress. Even though she was nothing like that in personality. But rather more of a passionate idealist and a generous spirit, which is what made her so high in Azula's eyes when she first picked her out.

Azula was flooded with relief, for whenever she chose to appear out of summons and training sessions, An Ji always rarely had anything but good news.

"We've found something out," The woman announced with excitement, "Something you'll find very interesting, my lady…"

Azula smiled sweetly at her, and moved closer, so they would not have to speak louder than a whisper, for they were surely being watched. Her smile widened with each passing moment, as a brilliant plan formed in her mind.

* * *

The party of four had split up into pairs, Sokka intentionally leading Suki for some time alone, so they could talk. If anyone could talk to Suki at the moment, it was Sokka. He knew how it was, to lose people he loved, he knew more than most, sadly. So it seemed for the best to Aang that he took Suki away. Besides, Aang got to spend some time with his best friend, which was always a good thing.

The two wandered off in the streets of the city, which was jam-packed with refugees, much like Ba Sing Se at the time of the great war. The sight sparked some unpleasant memories in Aang's mind, however Toph's presence kept them somewhat at bay, he was determined to have fun no matter what. He wouldn't let the intrusive thoughts of the past disturb him.

"So what's up Twinkle Toes? You walk pretty heavily for an Airbender." The Dai Li questioned the tall Air Nomad, whose eyes were flicking around at the people watching him intently.

"It's nothing; I'm just a bit worried." He said, and Toph instantly caught his neck with her arm, pulling him slightly lower to her height.

"Then I know the place just for you Air-head." She said, knocking on Aang's skull twice, as if to accentuate the point.

Several moments later, as he found himself sitting next to the mighty Earthbender Aang began to question this whole outing.

"Is this really necessary?" He asked, eyeing the bar Toph had dragged him into warily.

"Ah, nothing like a good Fire Whisky to take your mind off the world." Toph declared, grabbing a glass from the disheveled bartender and shoving it into Aang's protesting hands. She then took one for herself, grinning broadly at her comrade's trepidation.

"Drink up Twinkle Toes!" The woman toasted, savagely gulping the Fire Whisky in her glass, joined, though in a gentler manner by Aang, who immediately dropped his glass to the counter, eyes watering and tongue burning.

"Water!" He gasped at the bartender, and Toph erupted into good natured laughter.

"He'll learn," She assured the man behind the counter, curiously staring at his seemingly displeased customer. Then he nodded, sending a knowing smile at the woman and handed him a glass of water.

* * *

Sokka and Suki were sitting at the turtle-duck pond; they were quiet, serene, admiring the beauty of the place, admiring the peace within it. It was like there was no war, there were no aliens, there was nothing other than this beautiful oasis.

"You know what it's like… How can you stand it?" Suki suddenly said, rather softly, though quite shakingly.

"It's hard, it hurts… it hurts so bad, you don't even know." The warrior tried explaining, "it burns at your every breath, freezes your blood at every heart beat. You can't stop thinking about it, that it's over. You're never going to see them again. They're gone, forever, and you'll never laugh with them, or hold them, or cry with them…." The warrior stopped, and looked away for a moment, before sighing and returning to his words, now more firmly, "But you'll always love them, that love doesn't go away. And…" He hesitated for a moment, "That is what you need to focus on, that is what I try to focus on… what I try to do, even when it gets so hard I think I can't… breathe, I still love them."

The woman placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, looking at him thoughtfully. This talk seemed so hard for him, yet he knew they would have it when he split up with Aang and Toph. It felt almost as though he has never talked about it before with anyone. The woman's eyes widened as the horrible notion came to her, what if he hasn't?

* * *

After Toph had made him drink several more rounds of Fire Whisky, so that numerous glasses of water were now spread haphazardly on the bar counter, Aang decided he would never, ever, be in the same city with Toph when she went into a Fire Nation bar again.

Toph herself, blushed and merry, began singing, joining irrational conversations with the other patrons and finally, as Aang had predicted, challenging people to bending duels, right before she passed out drunk.

Aang thanked the merciful spirits that the water had diluted his own alcohol levels, otherwise he'd be swimming in his subconscious along with her. It wasn't even evening yet either.

As the Air Nomad woke up his Earth Kingdom friend, and got her to her feet, he noticed a person gently giving her rump a squeeze, to his wrath. However, the inappropriate action had not escaped the owner of the rump herself, and in an instant, once more, the person found himself flying in the air above the bar, now a giant stone protrusion peeking through the filthy wooden floor of it.

"That's twice since I got here." The Dai Li hiccoughed, though somewhat complimented, "These Fire Nation chumps must not get a lot of cute asses around here."

At that moment Aang's face was redder than even intoxicated Toph's was. He quickly led her out of the bar, and supported her through several allies back towards the palace, for it would surely do no good to Toph's reputation if she were seen drunk.

"You know what Twinkle Toes?" Toph spoke sluggishly, "You're not so bad in bars at all… Maybe we should go again together soon." She laughed foggily, and though he assured her otherwise, Aang once more repeated his silent resolution in his head. What after her singing the "Naked Earthbender Song" while chugging down a full mug of Ember Ale. Though the bar patrons seemed to like her and besides the occasional hiccoughing and gaggling on the drink, she did sing it pretty well, he reasoned, then shaking his head, which only made him very dizzy.

"I missed you so much you know…" Toph stated, and Aang raised an eyebrow at her. "You've grown so distant…" In her drunken stupor, Toph seemed to have confused him with Sokka. "Because," She then gave a loud belch and a hiccough, "I love you…" And with no warning whatsoever, with no way of preparing himself either mentally or physically, Toph forced him into a very passionate, yet highly confusing kiss.

Aang could not dare say he didn't enjoy it in the least, and in his inebriated state, he hardly found himself resisting it. It felt so good, so relaxing, so far away… so far away…


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

A painful throbbing in his head; that was all Aang could register at the moment he awoke. His sight was swimming in colors, and he felt the pounding of his head and his heart as one. What had happened?

He tried to sit up, his head protested, so he rolled sideways, falling off of his bed. How did he get to a bed? The last thing he remembered was leaving the bar with Toph.

He tried getting to his feet, using a window-ledge to support him; his hand was permanent on his forehead as he tried to take in his surroundings. He was in a well furnished room; he recognized it as one of the rooms saved for the visiting generals in the Fire-Lord's palace. Slowly, the colors steadied into objects, and a specific, blue one, was standing at the door way.

"You let Toph take you to a bar," The woman said exasperatedly, "You let _Toph_," she repeated, "Take you to a bar."

Aang tried to think of something clever to say, some excuse or maybe something witty, but the only thing in his head was a painful throb. However, he had a deep sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, something was wrong.

"Typical, we're in the war, and the Blind Bandit goes off getting drunk." Azula pinched the bridge of her nose gently. Then gave out a very long sigh, looking back at Aang with a face he has not seen on her face ever since he came to visit her at the Psychiatric Care Facility, it was worry. "You shouldn't have gone with her Aang." She said quietly, turning and leaving the room.

Aang needed water; he stumbled to find his robes and after clumsily putting them on, began his way towards the bathroom, where a sing song voice made him freeze in his tracks.

"Well hi there, _Kuzon_." Aang froze, he knew this day would come when he realized he had to go to the Fire Nation, he simply hoped it wouldn't.

"Hey, On Ji." He said, turning around to face the woman, then gulping. In the years he hadn't seen her, she had grown into a beautiful woman, and her rather revealing armor didn't do less to hide her apparent foxiness.

She laughed, "It's alright, Avatar Aang, you had no choice but to hide yourself." She said, walking over to him and giving him an unexpected peck on the cheek. "Class sure was dull without you." She said, "Anyway, I'm just here because Fire Lord Zuko wants you to come down as soon you get your bearings, he wants to talk to all of you."

"Is Toph up?" He asked her blearily as she turned to leave, she smiled at him,

"You two seemed to have had some fun this afternoon." Aang winced at that, how widespread was his outing with Toph? She giggled and went on her way, "Go see for yourself, she should be in the next room."

The monk groaned, couldn't anyone give him a straight answer to anything? He approached the next room, opening the door without thinking, in hindsight; he definitely should have knocked, as he was exposed to the sight of the naked Earthbender, having just had a bath in the connected bathroom. Apparently, she was definitely taking her time putting her clothes on. So they stood, Toph of course, had sensed him half entering the room. Aang was about to depart hastily, but before he was able to, the Dai Li called him over. "Could you hand me my clothes please?" She asked, completely unabashed.

The Air Bender tiptoed over to the rack where Toph had placed her clothes, to the annoyance of said Earthbender.

"Come on Twinkle toes! You'd think you've never seen a naked woman before!" She said angrily, then her face changed expressions so quickly that it was startling, "Oh… wait, oh wait, you haven't." She mused, "Gotta be a first time for everything, right?"

Aang simply handed her the clothes, not looking at her, and retreated from the room. She laughed as he left, "Sexual tension much? Ha, ha!"

Aang waited patiently, though red-faced until Toph came out of her room, she left with a wide grin on her face, and gave him a smack on the back of the head. "Lighten up, air-head"

He explained to her that Zuko wanted to see them downstairs, to which she shrugged. "I wonder how Sokka and Suki were doing." Aang said, Toph frowned, "These two know each other well, they were together after the war for a while I remind you. Well, until Suki and Haru got to know each other anyway." She said.

"Hey Toph," Aang started, unsure of himself. The Earthbender turned her head slightly, sensing his hesitation.

"What?" she asked seriously.

"Did… did something happen while we were out yesterday? I get the strangest feeling… like, I don't know. I didn't make a fool of myself, did I?"

"Yeah you did." Toph said angrily, "You couldn't even hold down your drinks right, what're you, trying to disgrace me or something?"

"I don't know…" Aang said, he placed his palm on his face, "I'm not sure Toph." He said, "This mission, whatever it is… it's so strange, we're dealing with aliens and creatures made of elements..."

"Well, if it's any comfort," Toph said, "you're surrounded by powerful benders from all directions."

"It's not that, it's…" he shook his head, "Never mind, let's see what Zuko wants."

They entered the dining room, to find it in chaos. Sokka was dodging a fireball sent from a member of the Fire Nation's Royal Guard, and hurried to toss a chair at him, afterwards blocking a blow from another, and flipping him over on the edge of the table, causing the other side of the table to lift in the air and strike the chin of a third.  
"I thought I smelled some ass-kicking." Toph said. Zuko's chair was facing away from the table and the back was dirtied with various foodstuffs. Azula was standing in the corner, an annoyed expression on her face.

"He's not coming with us!" Sokka said, gesturing at the chair.

"That's no reason to tear down his house, Sokka." Aang smiled.

"Wait, why aren't you coming with us Zuko?" Toph asked.

"When you came here, I hoped that you would be our saviors, but instead you ask me to leave my country while it needs me the most." The Fire Lord answered deliberately, "Last night, members of a cult calling itself the Disciples of the White Fire, raided and killed the entire headquarters of the Firebird terrorist organization. The ones who want my father back on the throne. They also assassinated their leader at his Tea House."  
"White Fire?" Aang echoed.

"They believe," Zuko continued, "That this new threat is to be embraced, this… chaos is to serve a higher goal. I cannot leave now."

"But!" Toph started, but was cut off.

"However, I am willing to send with you the best Firebender I know. Azula." Azula's eyes widened, "Wait, what?"

"No!" Toph called.

"This is the only way." Zuko said simply.

"Okay," Aang spoke, before anyone else could. "I trust your judgment Zuko, if you believe that she's the one we need, I trust you."

"Good, I've allowed myself to contact the Southern Water Tribe and Air Temple and notify them of your coming." Zuko continued, "Now, Avatar, it's time for you to go."

"Don't I have a say in this Zuko?" Azula called angrily, her voice cracked up at the last three words, causing several disturbed glances towards her from the Gaang.

"No, you don't Azula, you will do as ordered." Zuko stood up, while On Ji, who was in another corner, watching silently, walked towards the room. "I'll make sure your orders are carried out leader." She said to Azula, before exiting.

Sokka and Suki exchanged worried glances; Toph was staring blindly at some spot on the floor. "Man, we could certainly use one of Shang's unquieting sentences right about now."

* * *

Later, at the palace courtyard, evening falls, the distant smoke rising in long, thick tendrils into the sky, darkening the air, the smell of scorched earth spreading to all noses, and the distressed whispering of guards escorting the Gaang as they mount Appa. On Ji came to say her goodbye to Aang, "Hey Kuzon, sorry we never had time to catch up." She pecked him on the cheek. "Stay safe, alright?" Lyla and Ty Lee also joined the sending off, "Hey guys, you'll be fine right?" She asked, and was slapped hard on the back by Lyla, obviously the dominant one.

"Of course they will, Ty, they've got the Avatar along _**and**_ the Blue Dragoness herself."

"We'll be fine, Ty Lee." Aang assured her, giving her a thumb up and being pulled into a tight hug, followed by a question aimed at non other than Suki. "If you were a Kyoshi warrior, how come I never saw you when I was training with them?"

"I ended up deciding not to go back with them after the war, and you _**did**_meet me, more than once." Ty Lee shrugged.

The group climbed unto Appa and as all got prepped for take off there were several final words to be exchanged between Azula and On Ji, words non of the others could hear. Azula then climbed onto Appa's saddle and found a distant corner from the others.

Lift off; all is silent but the glares of the Fire Nation at their supposed "savior" it seemed, to them, that the Avatar had no time for his former enemy.

Several more moments passed in silence as the group meditated, the issue with the elementals was weighing down on all, not to mention the aliens' swift attacks.

Aang stared down at the volcano above the Fire Nation's capital, deep in thought, her hardly noticed the many silent figures on the edge of it. What he did notice, was the increasing sounds, a chant, then a barrage of fireballs.

"Aang!" Sokka called, pointing at the incoming onslaught.

"I know!" Aang replied through gritted teeth as he tried to maneuver Appa between them. However, Appa was no longer as quick as he used to be, and he was struck, once, twice, he roared in pain and began his descent, right towards the volcano.

"Steer him down!" Aang called to Sokka, jumping off, propelling himself towards the enemy, dispelling any fireballs sent his way, and breaking the air pressure as he landed, sending an explosion of gusts, throwing the white-robed Firebenders in all directions. Twirling his staff around he blocked another barrage, jumping in the air and sending an earth shock all around the edge of the volcano, grounding anyone who remained standing. It was then that the wide tongue of fire came at him, forcing him to the edge in an attempt to dodge, and then whipping above him, forcing him to duck. The Firebending alien had returned, sending a straight punch at Aang's face, Aang ducked and went with a three-sixty elbow to his ribs, compressing a ball of air at the tip. However, his attack was deflected, and instead of launching the alien far away as he planned, his ball exploded on the ground, sending them both in opposite directions.

The alien charged again, flaring fists, burning, flurrying at Aang unimaginably quickly. He was unable to dodge, and a strike well landed cracked his ribs and sent him rolling down the mountain.

"I am Ignatius, Avatar." The reptile spoke, "And I will strike the final blow…" He started, right before getting thwacked on the head from a flying boomerang, though the strike rang out, it hardly seemed to faze the beast. It did distract him however, long enough for Aang to send an earth spike to its chest, throwing the creature in the air, just as Toph landed on top of it, landing it on the ground and standing on top of it. However, she soon jumped off, as her feet were almost burned by the heat the reptilian creature was emanating.

Ignis jumped to his feet, the spiky scales in his forearm blocking a blow by Sokka, back kicking at Aang's face, sending him stumbling back. And then he ducked right beneath a rocket-propelled Azula, she turned in mid air and landed next to Aang.

The alien dodged quickly beneath their next combined attack, an earth spear burning with fiery energies, but did not expect the cooperation of Sokka, who redirected it with a kick right back at him. The spear hit his back dead center and he roared, falling to his knees. He broke it off with his tail, and bared his teeth. "I will not hold back against you." He said, sending out a wide circle of fire, forcing the Gaang to set up barriers to defend themselves, and at the same time sending his arms up, raising the full might of the volcano's energy, a huge pillar of fire emerged from the opening spinning like a tornado, spreading fire in all directions.

"Oh crap…" Sokka said, but Toph had other plans, she yelled at Aang, and both took horse stands, similar to that taken by Gaius at the Air Temple. Concentrating as fire lashed about them, burning their faces, their bodies even despite Azula's protection, they took everything in them, and unleashed it all in a joint scream, as the volcano erupted, the magma drowning the firestorm in its depths. Ignatius was forced to halt and was instantly overwhelmed by Sokka, who climbed his knees and sent slash after slash at his face, forcing the reptile to protect it with his arms, and then, while it couldn't see, jumping on its shoulders and landing two powerful blows with his machetes on the creature's head, breaking off some of his dorsal spikes, and inflicting great pain.

Swiftly, a gust of blue flames threw him into Suki, who had come to join the fight after landing Appa safely, the two then proceeded to roll off the slopes of the volcano, stopping on a platform made by Toph. Sokka was heavily burned from Ignatius' intense attack, but managed to get to his feet, looking up, he despaired, he wouldn't manage the climb back to the fight zone.

Ignatius had no time to relax, as Aang, Toph and Azula sent explosive attacks one after the other and he was forced to block. Toph launched herself at him, delivering an earth shattering kick to his forearm and breaking off several scales. However, Ignatius grabbed her foot and sent her face first into the ground, over and over again, until her face was completely bloody, and then proceeded to throw her straight into the gaping maw of the volcano. Forcing Azula to propel herself to fetch her limp form, and Aang to now stay on the defensive, protecting himself against the unrelenting blue fire attacks the lizard sent.

He dodged a blade of flame and a crescent and jumped over Ignatius, launching an inferno down from above him and landing on his other side, however, the lizard was unaffected and grabbed the Avatar with its tail, knocking him to the floor and jumping to deliver a drop kick, missing as the bender rolled sideways. Aang did not despair and sent a kick to the lizard's jaw, now the compressed ball of air hit successfully, exploding on Ignatius' face and rendering him unconscious and launching him right into the depths of the volcano. Azula returned quickly with passed out Earthbender.

"That was… unbelievable…" Azula panted into Aang's ear as she placed Toph down, "He was too powerful."

"Yes," Aang said, his voice throaty and burned by Ignatius' fiery tornado, he assumed Toph's situation to be identical, as they were both yelling when they drowned it with magma. Gaius had never broken them like this, this guy wasn't holding back, at least not as much as the earthen reptile did. Aang wondered how frighteningly powerful these creatures were at full strength. "We need to go back to the palace, they need treatment." Aang said, then calling for Appa, who came, slowly but surely.

* * *

"That guy was much stronger." Sokka said, "Too strong. All of us at once, and he nearly killed us all."

"Now that he's dead, maybe the blue dragons can finally start retaking the lands…" Suki started, but was stopped by Aang.

"He's not dead, I saw him, heat doesn't bother him, I bet he'll survive."

"That's preposterous Aang, he was thrown into a pool of lava, no one can survive that." Azula snapped.

"No one human, but then again, Gaius survived inside an avalanche that would've torn apart even a badgermole. They're not natural; they're an affront to this world, that's why the elementals are acting up."

"Then why are the elementals helping them? Wouldn't they try to destroy them instead?" Sokka asked, wincing as Suki rubbed some soothing cream over his burns.

"You've seen how powerful they are, they must be controlling them somehow. We must find out how." Aang said, "I believe that's what we'll find when we gather everyone."

"I hope." Azula said, "Because it doesn't seem we have much time left…"

Aang sat silently, staring down at the view of the Fire Nation's sprawling capital, the walls packed with guards, cities packed with refugees. He then looked in the distance, the final fort of the Fire Nation would not last much longer, and without it, all attention would be drawn to the capital city and Zuko…

**To Be Continued…**

Trivia: The wraiths are a group of infiltrators and assassins created by Zuko after the war, mainly to quiet the dissent of his father's supporters by gathering intelligence and foiling terrorist strike attempts. They were trained by him in the style he used as The Blue Spirit and are considered legendary amongst the population. They are known and feared throughout the Fire Nation as the most elite of fighters.


End file.
